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Fate of nuclear deal at issue again?

Commentary Materials 6 October 2018 13:34 (UTC +04:00)
In the near future, it will depend on President Macron whether the European Big Three (France, Great Britain, and Germany) will continue to maintain unity in the issue of preserving the Iranian nuclear deal.
Fate of nuclear deal at issue again?

Baku, Azerbaijan, October 6

By Azer Ahmadbayli – Trend:

In the near future, it will depend on President Macron whether the European Big Three (France, Great Britain, and Germany) will continue to maintain unity in the issue of preserving the Iranian nuclear deal.

One recent issue may have an impact on how France will decide on the nuclear deal.

In early July, the media reported on the operation of the Belgian police to detain two immigrants from Iran suspected of preparing a terrorist attack in France.

The detention of Iranians occurred in the town of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. Police found materials used for production of a bomb in their car. According to police, they were going to carry out a terrorist attack in the suburbs of Paris during a conference that gathered many representatives of the Iranian opposition in exile.

And, several days ago, i.e. three months after the incident happened, official Paris eventually revealed its position on the issue.

France has accused Iran's intelligence ministry of being behind a foiled plot to bomb an exiled opposition in a move that risks straining already complicated ties between Paris and Tehran, AFP reported on October 3.

"This extremely serious act envisaged on our territory could not go without a response," France's interior, foreign and economy ministers said in a rare joint statement.

Also, a French diplomatic source told AFP that the security forces had concluded that "the head of operations at the (Iranian) intelligence ministry ordered it".

Iran denied any involvement, how could it not?

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told AFP in an interview that Tehran rejected the French complaint "completely and forcefully", but said the door for discussion was open.

Reportedly, Assadollah Asadi, an Iranian diplomat based in Vienna, is directly relevant to the plot, and has been detained in Germany for further proceedings.

That is another serious accusation among many others, which has been made against Iran, now by France. Article 421-1-4, 421-2-1, 421-6-2, 421-6-3 of the Criminal code of France clearly qualify these actions as a felony.

The only thing that raises doubts is that there is no hard evidence of the crime which has been made public in a transparent manner.

This is why, commenting the issue, all media outlets have to use expressions such as “allegedly”, “reportedly” etc.

But this will not hinder France to use this incident and join the US by withdrawing from the nuclear deal if official Paris decides to do so.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, was on his visit to Washington from October 4 to 5. During this visit, Jean-Yves Le Drian met with Michael Pompeo. He was also planned to meet John Bolton, President Trump’s national security adviser.

Perhaps, at those meetings Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Bolton tried to convince the French side that it should take a “proper” decision.

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