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As Western Parties To Nuke Deal Meet, German FM Warns Iran ‘playing With Fire’ by ttbaba(m): 12:33pm On Feb 19, 2021 |
PARIS — European powers and the United States
on Thursday warned Iran it would be
“dangerous” to limit UN nuclear agency
inspections and asked Tehran to return to full
compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal, while
stating their commitment to “ensuring that Iran
can never develop a nuclear weapon.”
Britain, France, Germany and US said after talks
based in Paris that they were “united in
underlining the dangerous nature of a decision to
limit IAEA access” ahead of a February 21
deadline set by the Iranian parliament.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
hosted his German and British counterparts in
Paris, with America’s new Secretary of State
Antony Blinken joining via videoconference.
Their statement urged “Iran to consider the
consequences of such grave action, particularly
at this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity,”
adding that they all shared the aim of Iran
returning to “full compliance” with the accord.
Analysts say only a small window of opportunity
remains to save the deal, which received a near-
fatal blow when former US president Donald
Trump walked out of the accord in 2018 and
reimposed sanctions on Iran.
Tehran retaliated by stepping up nuclear work in
violation of the accord.
Ahead of the meeting, German Foreign Minister
Heiko Maas told reporters that “The recent steps
of Iran are not helpful at all, they endanger the
return of the Americans” to the deal.
“Apparently Iran is not interested in easing the
tensions, but in escalation. They are playing with
fire,” he said.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has
said it is prepared to rejoin the deal and start
lifting sanctions if Iran — whose economy has
been devastated — returns to full compliance.
But Tehran rejected this precondition, pressing on
with increasing nuclear work in retaliation for
Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure”
sanctions policy to weaken the Iranian regime
which has had no relations with Washington for
four decades.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),
signed in Vienna in 2015, was based on Iran
providing safeguards that it would not make an
atomic bomb, in exchange for a gradual easing of
international sanctions.
‘Serious impact’
The diplomacy is expected to be hugely delicate
and could be further derailed by the deadline set
under a bill adopted by the Iranian parliament in
December following the killing of top nuclear
scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, which Tehran
blamed on Israel.
Iran would restrict some UN nuclear agency
inspections by February 21 if the US does not lift
the sanctions imposed since 2018.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief
Rafael Grossi is to travel to Tehran on Saturday
for talks with the Iranian authorities to find a
solution for continuing inspections in the
country, the agency said.
It warned that
the step
threatened by
Tehran would
have “a
serious impact
on the IAEA’s
verification
and
monitoring
activities in
the country.”
In
Washington,
State
Department
spokesman Ned Price said that Iran should
provide “full and timely cooperation” with the
IAEA and reverse its recent steps violating the
accord.
The IAEA said last week that Iran had started
producing uranium metal in a new violation of
the accord, intensifying concerns it was becoming
closer to having the capacity to make a nuclear
weapon.
“Iran’s nuclear program is growing by the day,
as the time it would take to enrich enough
uranium for a single nuclear weapon shrinks,”
said Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the
International Crisis Group (ICG).
‘Solution for dilemma’
While Iran’s policy is ultimately determined by
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian
presidential elections in June add another time
pressure factor.
Iranian Presiden Hassan Rouhani — a key
advocate of nuclear diplomacy with global
powers — is set to step down after serving the
maximum two consecutive terms, and a more
hardline figure is likely to replace him.
Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow at the
European Council on Foreign Relations, said
Washington should move in political and
practical terms to show Iran that the Biden
administration “is distancing itself from Trump-
era maximum pressure.”
“There is a short window of time to limit the
damage that could ensue from Iran’s next steps,
for example by reducing the impact of such
moves on the quality of inspections by
international monitors,” Geranmayeh told AFP.
In this April 9, 2018, photo, released by an official website of
the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani
listens to explanations on new nuclear achievements at a
ceremony to mark “National Nuclear Day,” in Tehran, Iran.
(Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
Vaez said “the seemingly impossible dilemma has
a solution” if the two sides were prepared to take
“closely synchronized steps.”
This would involve Washington revoking
Trump’s 2018 withdrawal and greenlighting an
Iranian request for an emergency IMF loan,
while Iran freezes “the most problematic aspects”
of its nuclear program, he said.
Khamenei emphasized Wednesday that Iran
wanted to see “only action, action” from the
United States.
“If we see action from the opposite side, we will
act too,” he said.
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