Europe isn’t US ‘vassal,’ wants to uphold Iran nuclear deal

PARIS (AP) — France urged Europeans to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran nuclear deal and not act as “vassals,” as the region scrambles to save the 2015 accord and billions of dollars in trade.

Arguing the nuclear deal wasn’t tough enough on Iran, Trump’s government is now re-imposing sanctions, and any companies or governments with links to the U.S. face sanctions if they do not comply.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Friday on Europe-1 radio that Europe should not accept that the U.S. is the “world’s economic policeman.”

“Do we want to be vassals who obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers?” Le Maire asked. “Or do we want to say we have our economic interests, we consider we will continue to do trade with Iran?”

European governments tried for months to persuade Trump to stick with the deal but failed, and now fear it will raise the risk of conflict in the region. Military tensions between Iran and Israel have already mounted, and oil prices are rising on the uncertainty.

Iran said it may resume uranium enrichment in a higher rate in weeks if it finds nuclear deal will not work anymore after the U.S. pullout from the deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke Friday and underlined their aim of preserving the deal and peace in the Mideast. Merkel said Friday the unilateral U.S. withdrawal undermines confidence in the global order, but that it wasn’t enough to abandon decades of cross-Atlantic cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Russia and its ex-Soviet allies will sign a free trade pact with Iran. The deal between Iran, Russia and other members of the Moscow-dominated Eurasian Economic Union is set to be signed next week. The grouping includes Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

The pact’s signing had been planned for long time, but the move coincides with the U.S. move to re-impose sanctions against Iran that have rattled U.S. allies. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini insisted that it’s not up to the U.S. to determine the deal’s future anyway.