TEHRAN – Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman said on Monday that the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, is a great achievement of diplomacy that must be preserved.

During a meeting with Parviz Esmaeili, the Iranians ambassador to Croatia, Grlic-Radman also called for expansion of relations in various areas with Tehran.

For his part, Esmaeili said the two countries are determined to expand ties.

Elsewhere, the ambassador said the European Union has been formed based on “multilateralism, talks and collective participation” and that the Islamic Republic favors the EU’s independence.

In a videoconference with the non-European ambassadors in Croatia in May, Esmaeili urged the EU to support the nuclear deal.

“The European Union’s united voice in support for multilateralism and the JCPOA must turn into united determination and act,” he said.

The ambassador said that the EU has so far played a positive role in supporting the JCPOA politically, yet it is needed that political support is translated into action. 

“Only in this way, the European Union can be a support for international diplomacy, peace, and cooperation,” the diplomat pointed out.

U.S. President Donald Trump quit the multilateral nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

The U.S. move was in violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the JCPOA.

Under the JCPOA, Iran promised to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for the termination of economic and financial sanctions.

In May 2019, exactly one year after the U.S. unilaterally quit the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran, Tehran began to gradually reduce its commitments under the JCPOA to both retaliate for Washington’s departure and Europeans’ failure to honor their commitments.

On January 5, Iran took a fifth and last step in reducing its commitments and said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium or research and development. However, Iran has insisted if the Europeans honor their obligations it will immediately reverse its decisions.

Iran’s move is in line with paragraph 36 of the JCPOA.

President Hassan Rouhani said on May 6 that Iran will return to full implementation of the JCPOA if other signatories do the same.

Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, said in December 2019 that the signatories to the nuclear deal should adopt a united stance to preserve the deal.

NA/PA