The European Union (EU) Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said that the European Union is united in preserving Iran nuclear deal also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), IRNA reported.
EU members are united both on the need to preserve the JCPOA and on the need to address regional issues with Iran through dialogue, Mogherini said Monday in the press conference following a session of the Foreign Affairs Council.
“Also, as you know very well, those of you that follow this closely, we do have a sanctions regime in place with Iran – sanctions that are not nuclear-related and are related to other issues. The point today was not to discuss that. The point today was to re-state our unity in the expectations that all parties continue to fulfil their obligations and their commitments under the JCPOA.”
Mogherini earlier refuted certain media reports suggesting new sanctions against Iran saying “There is no proposal of additional sanctions against Iran. The focus today will be on continuing the full implementation of the nuclear deal. All three, but also Russia, China, the United States and Iran, just assessed on Friday that the deal is being implemented and that we all stay committed to its full implementation.”
She went on to say that “We finally addressed once again Iran: restating our full support to the full implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran. Just last Friday we chaired a positive Joint Commission [of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - JCPOA] in Vienna where all parties recommitted to the full implementation of the agreement.”
“We assessed once again with the 28 Member States that we attach strategic importance to the full implementation of the agreement by all parties. It is for us a matter of security, for Europe and for the rest of the world. And obviously there are issues like Syria or Yemen, on which we have very critical positions on Iran moves, but we are determined to address them outside of the scope of the nuclear agreement,” she reiterated.
Elaborating on US President Donald Trump's deadline of May 12, she said “Here we are the European Union and we work on our deadlines, on our timeline and on our priorities, making clear which are our strategic priorities. And our clear strategic priority is to continue with the good implementation that was certified ten times by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
“We all recognized that this is the case, including our American friends - last time was on Friday during an E3+3 or 5+1 meeting together with Iran [meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission]. I always say you might hear different tones, different accents - diversity is one of the richnesses of Europe and we value it,” she added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry has announced that Iran wants to see its neighbors' peace and security strengthened in the region, and will spare no effort on the path to fight destabilizing security threats of the terrorist groups.
'Iran's measures in fighting Daesh (ISIS) and the Takfiri terrorism have been taken upon the request by some states and in coordination with other states of the region, Iranian FM spokesman said earlier.