The EU is pleased with Iran’s reassurances that it would uphold its side of the 2015 nuclear pact, despite the US aggressive policy seeking the collapse of the internationally recognized agreement, the bloc’s top diplomat said.
Addressing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Manila on Monday, Federica Mogherini said, “I am flying directly from Tehran where I was attending the inauguration of President [Hassan] Rouhani and I was happy to hear from his words a commitment of himself and Iran to stick to the Iran nuclear deal which is, I think, a major element of security for both Europe and Asia, and the global order in general,” according to the website of the European Union External Action Service.
US President Donald Trump has railed against the accord negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
He fell short of his electoral pledge to rip up the UN-endorsed agreement, but has called for a full review of the pact.
Experts believe the barrage of anti-Iran measures by the US administration is meant to overwhelm the Islamic Republic with anger so it would ultimately withdraw from the deal.
But Iranian officials have stressed that Tehran would not be the first to pull out.
In a meeting in Tehran on Saturday, Mogherini told Rouhani the EU attaches high importance to the landmark deal and is weighing how to ensure its full and sustained implementation.
“The EU holds JCPOA in high regard … and is designing a comprehensive plan that would guarantee the full enforcement of the action plan,” she said, using the formal title of the accord, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
She reaffirmed the bloc’s stance that the pact is not a unilateral agreement for the US to scupper on its own.
“JCPOA does not belong exclusively to one side and all the negotiating parties and the international community are bound to help preserve it,” she said.
