EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that Europe must ensure Iran’s benefits from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, if it wants the deal to survive.

“If we want the Iran nuclear deal to survive, we need to ensure that Iran benefits if it returns to full compliance.”
“If we want the Iran nuclear deal to survive, we need to ensure that Iran benefits if it returns to full compliance,” he wrote in an article in the Project Syndicate published on Saturday.

Borrell visited Iran on Monday, Feb. 3. He held talks with Foreign Minister Zarif, President Rouhani and Parliament speaker Ali Larijani.

Presidential chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi said on Wednesday that European Union knows that there is no deal better than the nuclear agreement.

Vaezi also predicted that the EU will not refer Iran’s case to the United Nations Security Council.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, he also called Borrell’s visit to Iran “very good”.

“The first point that Mr. Borrell raised was that he admitted that the Europeans failed to remain committed to their obligations after the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA,” Vaezi said.

The presidential chief of staff added, “The second point he raised was that Europe seeks to have good relations with Iran in various areas. He said efforts will be made to keep the JCPOA and there is no deal better than it.”

Borrell was notified in January by Paris, London and Berlin that they had triggered the dispute mechanism.

“All these remarks mean what they (Europeans) have said about the dispute mechanism will not be practical,” Vaezi noted.

Borrell has said that the EU will extend indefinitely the time limit to resolve disputes in the nuclear deal to avoid having to go to the UN Security Council or triggering new sanctions.

“We are in agreement not to go directly to a strict time limit which would oblige (us) to go to the Security Council,” Reuters quoted him as saying during a visit to Tehran.

In his remarks, broadcast on Tuesday, he said, “The willingness is not to start a process that goes to the end of JCPOA, but to keep it alive.”

Borrell said on January 24 that he had extended the time available to discuss ways to save the nuclear deal.

“There is agreement that more time is needed due to the complexity of the issues involved. The timeline is therefore extended,” Borrell said in a statement.

In the meeting with Borrell in Tehran, President Rouhani criticized the EU for failing to honor its commitments after the U.S. quit the deal and reinstituted sanctions on Iran.

However, Rouhani said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is still ready to cooperate with the European Union for resolving issues, and at any time that the other side (EU) fully observes its commitments Iran will also return to its commitments.”

In May 2019 Iran started to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA at bi-monthly intervals in response to the abrogation of the pact by the U.S. coupled with the European Union’s inaction to shield Iran’s economy from sanctions.

NA/PA