On Wednesday 20 September, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini opposed any renegotiation of the agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
After an E3+3 (Germany, France, United Kingdom and China, United States, Russia) meeting with Iran on the common action plan in New York, Mogherini said there was no need to renegotiate parts of the agreement because it covered a nuclear programme (rather than other issues relating to Iran) and it is fully working. The High Representative said there had not been any talks about changes to the agreement at the meeting.
US President Donald Trump often criticises the agreement, and France's President Emmanuel Macron said that the deal was not sufficient and called for two or three other aspects to be added – one on better control of ballistic missiles and ballistic activities, which are not covered by the 2015 agreement; one on post-2025 because the agreement only goes as far as 2025; and one launching talks with Iran on the current situation in the Middle East.
Mogherini said that all parties, including the US, had agreed that there had not been any violation of the agreement, that all aspects of it were being respected and all parties were fully implementing it. She made it clear to reporters nine times that the agreement was working. The high representative said that it was the IAEA’s job to report on implementation of the agreement and the joint committee’s job to monitor its implementation rather than for any particular party to certify that the agreement was working.
"There are other issues that are out of the scope of the agreements and these issues might be tackled in different formats, in different fora, including the fact - that it's not a mystery I guess – the United States is having a review on its own Iranian policy", Mogherini said. Quizzed about what would happen to the agreement if the US were to withdraw, the high representative said: "I can tell you, as Europeans, here I'm not speaking on behalf of all the others – I'm speaking for the European Union – as Europeans we will make sure that the agreement stays.’
"There is no need to renegotiate parts of the agreement, because the agreement is concerning a nuclear programme and, as such, it is delivering. We all agreed on the fact that there is no violation, that the nuclear programme related aspects which is all the agreements are being fulfilled. The new agreement is about nuclear. Nuclear is fulfilled. The agreement is delivering. So, there is no need to re-open the agreement because it is fully delivering", Mogherini said. "And let me underline one thing that must be self-evident to all in the world, I think, in this moment having a nuclear non-proliferation agreement that is delivering is quite a strategic instrument in the hands of the international community. It' is not an irrelevant part of global security. We already have one potential nuclear crisis (Ed: with North Korea). We definitely do not need to go into a second one. This is an agreement that prevented a nuclear programme and potentially prevented a military intervention. Let's not forget that", she added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)