German FM Says JCPOA Should Not Be Jeopardized

TEHRAN (defapress) – Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel cautioned against moves that would put the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers at risk.

News ID: 66001

Date: 21 September 2017 - 18:33

"It is in our utmost interest not to jeopardize the nuclear agreement with Iran and certainly not to end it now or in the future,” Gabriel said in a statement after the meeting of the foreign ministers of Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), in New York on Wednesday.

He stressed that Iran has remained committed to the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and that in the past two years, "we have seen that the agreement is working.”

The German top diplomat further claimed that Iran is still not playing a constructive role in the Middle East, adding, "I firmly believe that neither the volatile and tense situation in the region nor Iran’s conduct would improve if the nuclear agreement is no longer observed.”

US President Trump has frequently described the JCPOA as a bad deal and talked of his intention to scrap it.

In his Tuesday’s speech at the UN General Assembly, Trump called the nuclear deal, negotiated between Iran and six world powers, and backed by his predecessor Barack Obama, "an embarrassment”.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its peaceful nuclear program in return for easing economic sanctions.