Germany Will Strive to Save Nuclear Pact

Germany will do all it can to persuade the United States not to abandon the Iranian nuclear agreement, whatever the outcome of German elections on Sunday, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday. Gabriel told reporters any US move to cancel the Iran deal and impose new sanctions on Tehran would discourage countries such as North Korea from negotiating an end to their own nuclear programs. Germany would work with the European Union, France, Britain and where possible China and Russia to press Washington to preserve the deal, under which Iran curbed its nuclear work in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, he said on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York, Reuters reported. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are poised to win Sunday's elections, but it remains unclear if Gabriel's Social Democrats will play a role in the next coalition government.  Gabriel said Germany would maintain its position on the Iran deal, regardless of which parties formed the next government. In Berlin, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said Germany, as one of Iran's most important trading partners in Europe, had a "great interest" in preserving the agreement.