Iran Press/Europe: Since Iran has issued a stern warning to the European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) and gave them a 60-day period to fulfil their obligations, promises and commitments under the JCPOA, as well as warning them that Iran's patience has reached its limit, on the first anniversary of US abrogation of the multilateral nuclear agreement, JCPOA, the Europeans began to react toward it, reported Iran Press.
Now with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to Brussels to hold talks with European officials on Iran and other issues on Monday before heading to Russia to talk also on Iran and Washington-Moscow affairs, Some of the European officials react toward Iran's position over JCPOA:
UK is worried about the accidental conflicts between Iran and USA
Britain’s Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt warns about the risk of a conflict between the United States and Iran as a result of 'unintended escalation.
“We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident with an escalation that is unintended,” Hunt said on Monday in Brussels, to which he has travelled for a European Union foreign ministers’ meeting.
However, he claimed that such escalation would be accidental 'on either side,' apparently underplaying the United States’ actions that have led up to the current rise in regional and international tensions.
Germany supports Iran's JCPOA
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Berlin 'will continue to support' the deal. Furthermore,German government spokesman Steffen Seibert also said on Monday that Germany is working on maintaining a legal channel for trade with Iran.
“Along with our E3 partners, we’re undertaking efforts to keep enabling legitimate trade with Iran, in particular by providing a payment channel,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference.
France: Europe insists on Iran's loyalty to JCPOA
Expressing concerns' over Iran's recent statement over JCPOA, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian emphasized that Europe insists on Iran's staying committed to the provisions of JCPOA.
Netherlands hopes Iran not to withdraw the Nuclear deal
Dutch minister of Foreign affairs, Stef Blok also stressed the fact that Iran's abiding by the JCPOA
The European Union fully supports the international nuclear accord with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and wants rival powers to avoid any further escalation over the issue, Federica Mogherini said on Monday.
“We will continue to support it as much as we can with all our instruments and all our political will,” EU foreign policy chief, Mogherini told reporters before a meeting with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, who are signatories to the deal, according to the Reuters.
United States has not the military capability to confront Iran
Nathalie Tocci, the special adviser to Mogherini, acknowledged that US pressure was making Iran's compliance with the JCPOA impossible.
In an interview with CBC News, Tocci said the EU and the US have fundamentally different objectives in their dealings with Iran.
“What is very clear is the fact that, in fact, some of the non-renewal of the sanctions waivers of the United States actually make it impossible for Iran to comply with the JCPOA," she said.
The diplomat said the EU's objective is to contain Iran's nuclear program, while the Trump administration's aim is a regime collapse in Iran.
"Now as for the question, 'Is the US strategy aimed at a regime collapse in Iran actually delivering?' Well, frankly speaking, I don't see an Iranian regime on the verge of collapse," she added.
"I didn't see Iran's strategy in the Middle East — Iranian foreign policy in the Middle East — actually having changed over the last year. It doesn't seem to me to be delivering at all,” Tocci said of US aims in pressuring Iran.
Tocci further dismissed the possibility of a military confrontation between the US and Iran.
“I don't think it's possible, because to be honest, I don't think the United States has the military capability of actually conducting a war in Iran. I mean, they can certainly go to war," she said. "The point is that they want to win it. I mean, they haven't exactly been able to win a war in Iraq, and it's a country that is incomparably smaller and weaker. So I don't think that it is a realistic objective.”105/203
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