Europe is making headway toward an agreement to meet Washington's demands concerning the Iran nuclear deal, European diplomats say, raising optimism among American allies that US President Donald Trump can be persuaded not to scrap the agreement.
“We came out feeling like we are making good progress toward addressing the president’s concerns and coming [up] to an agreement,” a European diplomat told a small group of reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, Reuters reported on Friday.
Senior diplomats from the three European nations that are party to the deal met Brian Hook, the US State Department’s director of policy planning, in Washington on Wednesday to try to find a way to salvage the pact, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
On January 12, Trump delivered an ultimatum to Britain, France and Germany, saying they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal” within four months or he would refuse to extend the US sanctions relief on Iran that it calls for.
Trump sees three defects in the agreement: its failure to address Iran's ballistic missile program, its limits that hinders international inspectors to visit Iranian military sites that Washington claims are used for nuclear purposes, and "sunset" clauses under which limits on the Iranian nuclear program start to expire after 10 years. He wants all three strengthened if Washington is to stay in the agreement.
Iran denies its nuclear program has any military element. It also says its missile program is for defense purposes only and non-negotiable and maintains that military sites are outside the purview of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Bloomberg also quoted two unidentified European diplomats on Friday as saying that they are close to an agreement that could be taken to Trump and his top advisers.
In addition, a senior US State Department official said the US and Europeans are about to reach an agreement on how to address Iran’s ballistic missile activities.
The two sides are making progress but have not settled on how to handle sunset provisions in the nuclear accord, Bloomberg reported, without naming the official.
*** EU Sanctions
On Thursday, the European Union extended the only remaining sanctions it has against Iran, related to alleged human rights violations, by a year until April 2019 in the hope of safeguarding the nuclear deal, Reuters reported.
They include asset freezes and travel bans against 82 people and one entity. Iran denies the allegations.
Foreign ministers of all states in the EU, where decisions on sanctions require unanimity, will take sides over the imposition of a new set of penalties at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
*** US Exit
On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a decision by Trump not to renew sanctions relief for Iran would not necessarily mean Washington had withdrawn from the 2015 deal.
It was not immediately clear what Mnuchin meant by his comment, but it appeared to signal the Trump administration believes the agreement will not necessarily collapse if he chooses not to extend US sanctions relief to Iran.
"If the president decides not to sign that [waiver], it doesn't mean we're necessarily pulling out of the deal. What it means is that the primary and secondary sanctions will go back in place,” he told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee.
It is not immediately clear how Iran might respond to a Trump decision not to renew the sanctions waivers, but Tehran would be within its rights to argue the United States violated its commitments to ease sanctions even as Tehran, as verified by international inspectors, had kept its nuclear commitments.
US nuclear experts say if Trump does not waive the sanctions in May, it effectively kills the nuclear deal.
