U.S. seeks Iran measures to keep deal alive

VIENNA — Washington wants its European allies to agree to further measures against Iran in return for keeping a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran alive, U.S. officials said Friday.

Speaking after private meetings among the U.S., Iran, Russia and other world powers in Vienna, U.S. diplomats indicated that an American walkout from the deal isn’t a foregone conclusion, despite harsh words about the agreement from President Donald Trump.

“In order for the United States to remain in the deal, the United States and Europe must come to an agreement to address sunsets, inspections, and long range ballistic missiles,” said Brian Hook, the State Department policy planning chief who led the U.S. delegation.

Washington opposes the socalled sunset clause allowing restrictions on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program to expire in 2025, and it wants the U.N. to inspect Iran’s military sites too.

Although the issues are currently outside the nuclear agreement, the U.S. also wants European countries to support a clampdown on Iran’s ballistic missile program and the country’s activity beyond its borders, such as by designating the political wing of Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

“The president has instructed us to see if we can come to an agreement with the Europeans by May 12,” Hook said.

He confirmed that American diplomats also met with an Iranian delegation on the sidelines of a gathering of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Joint Commission, but he didn’t provide details.

Such discussions between the U.S. and Iran have occurred occasionally on the margins of regularly scheduled Iran deal talks.

A senior State Department official in Washington, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. side has used the opportunity to raise the cases of Americans imprisoned or missing in Iran.

The periodic meeting of the commission was being closely watched for an indication of American thinking after Trump’s firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Trump has vowed to walk away from the 2015 agreement in mid-May unless European countries join the U.S. in addressing what the president says are its key flaws. These include no penalties for Iran’s missile work and support for militant groups in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.

Tillerson’s firing and the choice of anti-Iran hard-liner Mike Pompeo to replace him have fueled speculation that Washington will pull out — a move that likely would kill the deal.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi and other delegates refused to comment on the private session after it wrapped up.

But Aragchi told a parliamentary committee in Tehran on Wednesday that Tillerson’s ouster was proof that Trump would pull out and promised that Iran would withdraw if the U.S. does.

Hook said the meetings in Vienna had been productive, insisting that “the U.S. is meeting its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal and we are holding Iran accountable for its commitments.”

“We believe that we can work within the Iran nuclear deal to strictly enforce it while we are working on all of the aspects outside of Iran’s nuclear program,” he said.

The nuclear deal, which was negotiated by President Barack Obama’s administration, limits Iran’s enrichment and stockpiling of material that could be applied to a nuclear weapons program. In exchange, Tehran was granted widespread relief from international trade, oil and banking sanctions.

Trump’s next deadline to extend some of those concessions is May 12.

EU foreign ministers, who will meet to discuss the issue Monday in Brussels, are expected to affirm that they believe the deal with Iran is good and work to discourage Trump from pulling out of the deal in May. At the same time, they’re expected to start putting greater stress on Iran’s missile development and its destabilizing role in the region.