EU's top diplomat dismissed US President Donald Trump's call for revisiting the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, citing Europe's security concerns and the complex nature of the UN-endorsed agreement.
"The nuclear deal we achieved with Iran is a key security priority for Europe, and for the region. President Trump mentioned in his speech on the US' Iran strategy that the Unites States will consult with allies on the way forward. And the message we have sent as the European Union and its member states, all 28 extremely united, is this: Preserving the nuclear deal with Iran and its full implementation, in all its parts, by all, is a key security priority for Europe. That is the starting point," Federica Mogherini added.
She was addressing a conference titled Rome 2017 Mediterranean Dialogues in the Italian capital Rome on Friday.
"The deal has been negotiated and finalized in a way that actually contains so many provisions and so many elements of control with the most intrusive of system of verification from the International Atomic Economic Agency exactly … So anyone that thinks about renegotiating one chapter or another paragraph or line simply does not know what kind of box it is opening; every single word is linked to the previous and the next one … simply does not understand the complexity of that," she said.
It is not the first time Mogherini speaks in defense of the pact under which Tehran swapped relief from international sanctions for time-bound curbs on its nuclear program. Trump has adopted an aggressive stance against the deal, branding it the worst of its kind and pushing for its revision to expand the scope of the curbs beyond the nuclear issue.
Uncompromising Opposition
Mogherini reasserted the EU's uncompromising opposition to Trump's stance regarding the nuclear deal, noting that the UN endorsement of the accord makes it obligatory for all the signatories to uphold their commitments.
"So no possibility of renegotiating parts of it, even partially; it is a key priority for us to keep its full implementation. This is the message that I delivered to President [Hassan] Rouhani several times, last time in August during my visit to Tehran for his inauguration ceremony, and this is the message I am bringing to Washington: Europeans expect everybody to stay compliant with the agreement and to fulfill their commitment in full. This deal does not belong to one or another; it is a UN Security Council Resolution … so you cannot get out of the deal, you cannot dismantle the deal," she said, according to a transcript of her remarks carried by the European External Action Service website.
"You can decide not to implement a UN Security Council resolution, and this is sovereign choice, but the deal is part of the UN system and is an international agreement."
In relevant remarks, Mogherini's Russian counterpart warned that Washington's possible withdrawal from the deal would create a negative precedent in the context of resolving the situation surrounding North Korea's nuclear program.
"If the United States withdraws from this deal now, it will lose credibility in the eyes of those of whom it is currently demanding cessation of their nuclear program, namely North Korea," Sergey Lavrov told the Rome conference, Interfax reported.
Iran denies western allegations of possible military aspects to its nuclear activity, insisting it has always pursued civilian purposes. And The civilian nature of Iran's nuclear energy program and the country's compliance with the deal has been attested to by the International Atomic Energy Agency following several regular inspections the UN body continues to conduct.
