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EU Firm on Protecting Nuclear Agreement

The EU foreign policy chief says the new US administration must have understood that it would be in the interest of no one in the region to take a course different from Iran’s nuclear deal
EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini (L), speaks in a debate organized by the European University Institute in Florence on May 5.
EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini (L), speaks in a debate organized by the European University Institute in Florence on May 5.

The European Union is making every effort to uphold the Iran nuclear pact, despite the US hardening stance toward the landmark agreement, the bloc's top diplomat said.

"The Europeans are working firmly to keep the deal in place," Federica Mogherini said in a debate organized by the European University Institute on Friday.

The accord went into effect in January 2016 to swap temporary curbs on Tehran's nuclear program for relief from international sanctions.

Mogherini and her team coordinated two years of negotiations that led to the agreement, formally titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of action.

Her remarks came at a time when US President Donald Trump, who only took office in January, has harshly criticized the deal and has demanded a revision of the action plan, arguing that his predecessor Barack Obama should have driven a harder bargain during the nuclear talks.

Since entering office, he has imposed a raft of new sanctions on individuals and entities linked to Iran's missile program and regional activities, in a show of opposition to JCPOA.

His administration acknowledged last month that the Islamic Republic was complying with the nuclear restrictions but said it was launching an inter-agency review of whether the lifting of sanctions against Iran was in the US national security interests.

However, the US partners, namely Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, seem to agree on the need to keep the nuclear deal intact and alive, and oppose Trump's call for revision.

"I believe the new US administration must have understood that it would be in the interest of no one in the region to take a course different from JCPOA," Mogherini was quoted as saying by ISNA.

"What I'm seeing is that the deal is working. It is making the world ... much safer," she said, echoing the view of the UN nuclear chief, Yukiya Amano, who has touted the agreement as a significant gain for nuclear verification.

"Since the implementation of JCPOA began in January 2016, we have been verifying and monitoring Iran's implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the agreement," Amano said earlier this week.

"Our inspectors have expanded access to sites and have more information about Iran's nuclear program. That program is smaller than it was before JCPOA came into effect. Iran is provisionally implementing the additional protocol to its safeguards agreement with the agency."

Iran denies ever having considered developing atomic weapons and says its nuclear program only has civilian purposes.

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