TEHRAN - Kamal Kharrazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, warned on Monday that a failure by Europe to save the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, will destabilize the Middle East region.

“It is essential that Europe meets its commitments as soon as possible,” he said during a meeting with former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in Paris.

Kharrazi said Europeans’ move in meeting their commitments to save the JCPOA will show whether they can be trusted.

For his part, De Villepin said that countries in the Middle East region should be vigilant to avoid more crises, noting that Europe is ready to cooperate in this respect.

According to Bloomberg, the European Union announced on November 7 that work “has accelerated” on a so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV) to help avoid the U.S. administration’s reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump officially withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal and ordered sanctions on Iran. The first round of sanctions went into force on August 6 and the second round, which targets Iran’s oil exports and banks, were announced on November 4.

France, Germany, Britain and the European Union issued a joint statement on November 2 condemning the U.S. move in reimposing sanctions on Iran and vowed to protect European companies doing “legitimate” business with Tehran.

The statement read that Europe will also seek to “maintain financial channels operational with Iran and to ensure the continuation of Iranian oil and gas exports”.

NA/PA