EU states put Iran on notice over N-deal
UK, Germany and France trigger dispute clause
brussels — Britain, France and Germany ratcheted up pressure on Iran on Tuesday to cease its violations of a landmark nuclear deal, a process that could result in a “snapback” of United Nations sanctions.
The three countries, which signed the international agreement in 2015 along with the United States, Russia and China, said in a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief that they had no choice but to trigger the deal’s “dispute mechanism”, given Iran’s ongoing transgressions.
The three said they rejected Tehran’s argument that Iran was justified in violating the deal because the United States broke the agreement by pulling out unilaterally in 2018.
“We have therefore been left with no choice, given Iran’s actions, but to register today our concerns that Iran is not meeting its commitments,” the countries said in a joint statement.
The aim of the move by France, Germany and Britain is “to find solutions and return (Iran) to full compliance within the framework of this agreement,” he said.
The 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, seeks to prevent Iran from producing a nuclear weapon — something Iran insists it does not want to do — by putting curbs on its atomic programme in exchange for economic incentives.
Under its dispute resolution mechanism, countries have 30 days to resolve their problem though that can be extended. If it cannot be solved, the matter could be brought before the UN Security Council and could then result in the snapback of sanctions that had been lifted under the deal.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement that the three European countries “could no longer leave the growing Iranian violations of the nuclear agreement unanswered.” —
Iran announced on Tuesday its first arrests over the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner last week, as it struggles to contain the fallout from the disaster that sparked three days of protests.
The Ukraine International Airlines plane was brought down by a missile shortly after takeoff on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board. Iran has come under mounting international pressure to ensure its investigation into the tragedy is full and transparent.
The authorities’ handling of the air disaster has also angered some Iranians. Iranian protesters gathered for a fourth day in Tehran on Tuesday to demonstrate against the way the authorities have handled last week’s accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner, videos posted on social media showed.
“Where is justice?” a crowd chanted at one university in the capital, one of the videos showed, continuing daily protests that erupted after the Iranian military admitted on Saturday that it had brought down the plane in error.
Videos posted online on Monday purported to show hundreds of protesters taking to the streets for a third consecutive night, apparently shouting slogans against the Islamic republic.
At a televised news conference, the judiciary announced the first arrests had been made over the calamitous blunder, without specifying how many.
“Extensive investigations have been carried out and some people have been arrested,” said spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili. The announcement came shortly after President Hassan Rouhani said everyone responsible for the disaster must be punished. “For our people it is very important in this incident that anyone who was at fault or negligent at any level” face justice, Rouhani said.
“Anyone who should be punished must be punished. “The judiciary must form a special court with a high-ranking judge and dozens of experts... The whole world will be watching,” Rouhani said.
“It cannot be that only the person who pressed the button is at fault. There are others, and I want this to be explained to the people explicitly.”
Addressing that issue on Tuesday, Rouhani said while “the root of all sorrows goes back to America... this cannot be a reason for us not to look into all the root causes” of the air disaster.
The president also demanded officials explain why it took so long for authorities to announce the real cause of the air disaster.
“They must explain the whole process. From Wednesday morning when the incident happened until the meeting on Friday night of the Supreme National Security Council. They must explain this whole process to the people,” said Rouhani.
“But more important than anything else, in my opinion, is that our people must be assured that this incident will not be repeated.” Iran has invited experts from Canada, France, Ukraine and the United States to take part in the probe into the air disaster.
On Monday night, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said its investigators flying to Tehran would be granted access to the wreckage and black box flight recorders of the downed airliner.
“There have been early signs that Iran is allowing the TSB to play a more active role than is normally permitted,” its chair Kathy Fox said.
Meanwhile, the son of a leader of Iran’s opposition Green movement was arrested on Monday, according to website Sahamnews.
Hossein Karoubi was arrested two days after his father, under house arrest since 2011, called on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step down over the handling of the shooting down of the Ukrainian airliner.
The United States on Tuesday warned of threats to commercial vessels in and around the Arabian Gulf in the wake of its confrontation with Iran.
“Heightened military activity and increased political tensions in this region continue to pose serious threats to commercial vessels,” the US said in a maritime warning. —
We (grieving nations) will meet in person in London to discuss the ways, including legal, (for) how we are following this up.”
Vadym Prystaiko,
Ukraine’s foreign minister I think if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families.”
Justin Trudeau,
Canadian Prime Minister 30 People detained over plane crash protests in Iran The judiciary should form a special court with a ranking judge and dozens of experts. This is not an ordinary case. The entire world will be watching this court.”
Hassan Rouhani,
Iranian President
Numerous investigations have been conducted in this area (plane crash) and every night our judicial team has been seeking documents until midnight.” Gholamhossein Esmaili,
Judiciary spokesman of Iran
If we’re going to get rid of it (Iran N-deal), let’s replace it and let’s replace it with the Trump deal. That would be a great way forward.” Boris Johnson,
British Prime Minister
Heightened military activity and increased political tensions in this region continue to pose serious threats to commercial vessels.”
US statement