Step up efforts to salvage nuclear deal – Iran
ANKARA: Iran said yesterday that Europe should accelerate its efforts to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned in May, as French oil group Total formally pulled out a major gas project.
Efforts by the remaining signatories – EU members Britain, France and Germany plus China and Russia – to avoid its collapse are struggling as Washington has said any firms dealing with Tehran will be barred from doing business in the US.
“Europeans and other signatories of the deal have been trying to save the deal… but the process has been slow. It should be accelerated,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasemi said. “Iran relies mainly on its own capabilities to overcome America’s new sanctions. European states have been scrambling to ensure Iran gets enough economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal, which Trump said was “deeply flawed”.
Washington imposed new sanctions on Iran this month, targeting its trade in gold and other precious metals, purchases of US dollars and its car industry.
The European powers, China and Russia say they will do more to encourage their businesses to remain engaged with Iran. But the threat of US sanctions has prompted many to pull out of Iran.
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said France’s Total had formally left a contract to develop Iran’s South Pars Gas project. “The process to replace (Total) with another company is under way,” he was quoted as saying.
Carmakers PSA, Renault and Daimler are also among those to suspend or drop plans to invest in Iran along with Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Telekom. Working to maintain financial channels with Tehran and facilitate Iran’s oil exports, the EU has taken steps to counter the renewed US sanctions, including forbidding its citizens from complying with them.
Washington has said Iran’s only chance of avoiding the sanctions would be to accept Trump’s offer to negotiate a tougher nuclear deal. Iranian officials have rejected the offer.
The US will impose tougher sanctions in November which will target Iran’s oil sale and banking sector.