EU Rejects US Attempt to Invoke JCPOA It Quit in 2018

The European Union’s top diplomat said on Tuesday that since the United States in 2018 already withdrew from the international agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it cannot now use its former membership of the pact to try to impose a permanent arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.
The accord, which Iran signed with the US, Britain, Germany, France, China and Russia in 2015, has been unraveling since US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out in 2018 and reinstated sanctions designed to cripple Tehran under what the US called a “maximum pressure” campaign.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft have said that extending a UN-backed arms embargo against Iran, which expires in October, is now a top priority of Washington.
But speaking to reporters on Tuesday after talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that since the US has pulled out of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it can no longer claim to have a role in it.
“The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA, and now they cannot claim that they are still part of the JCPOA in order to deal with this issue from the JCPOA agreement. They withdraw. It’s clear. They withdraw,” Borrell said.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Trump administration of unleashing a politically motivated campaign against Iran and called for “universal condemnation” of the US attempt to get the UN Security Council to impose a permanent arms embargo.
The EU sees the nuclear deal as a key pillar of regional and world security and has struggled to keep the pact alive despite US pressure. 
Borrell is tasked with supervising the way the pact is applied and to help resolve disputes between the parties.