TEHRAN – Foreign ministers of the three European parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have emphasized the necessity to save the Iran nuclear agreement.

In a meeting before a gathering of the EU Foreign Affairs Council summit in Brussels on Monday, the top diplomats from Germany, Britain and France discussed the importance of protecting the nuclear deal, the German mission to the European Union said Monday.

Later, Sigmar Gabriel, the federal minister for foreign affairs of Germany, said in comments at the FAC meeting that Berlin needs to work in close cooperation with its allies regarding the JCPOA.

“Europe wants to uphold the agreement,” Gabriel said, adding he was going with his British and French colleagues, as well as Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, to “discuss on how to engage in dialogue with the United States in order to maintain the agreement.”

The Foreign Affairs Council, made up of EU member state ministers responsible for foreign affairs, defense and development, convened on Monday for talks on various topics, such as the EU-Africa relations.

The EU has been at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump who has repeatedly described the JCPOA as a disaster and accused Iran of violating the deal.

The EU, Iran, Russia and China maintain that the JCPOA is a multilateral and non-renegotiable pact that could not be scrapped unilaterally.

The 159-page nuclear accord clinched in July 2015 went into force in January 2016. 

Under the deal Iran is obliged to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA in all of its reports after implementation of the deal.

SP/PA