On Thursday 28 September, a senior European diplomat stated that the agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme was not a peace agreement between Iran and the rest of the world but an agreement to prevent Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons.
"This is not a peace agreement but a non-proliferation deal which is an important piece of the global non-proliferation architecture", this diplomatic source told a small group of journalists including from EUROPE. The source added that "it is a robust agreement which is delivering on its prime objective: to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons”.
While recognising that the regional issues that involve Iran, like the ballistic missile tests conducted by Tehran, are "a big concern", the European diplomat stated that these issues need to be "addressed" and that the EU continues to raise them. "But those are outside the scope of the agreement and need to be dealt with in other formats”, the diplomat added.
The same source said that the agreement on the nuclear programme contained "very strong monitoring and verification mechanisms, transparency mechanisms". "It is a combination of nuclear restrictions, enhanced transparency and verifications measures”, the source added.
Since the agreement was made, the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted hundreds of inspections over the first year, including unexpected inspections on the ground, and has certified Iran's compliance with its commitments seven times.
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 20 September, "all parties to the deal" (France, Germany, the UK and China, Russia and the USA) "confirmed again that all sides are implementing the agreement", the diplomat stated (see EUROPE 11867).
Questioned about US President Donald Trump's claims that Tehran is not upholding the agreement, the source stated that a dispute settlement mechanism existed. This mechanism is part of the agreement and any party that feels that the other side is in breach of the agreement can refer the issue to the Joint Commission. "There is a process in place that would actually help us to do the necessary crisis management, within the framework of the agreement”, the diplomat said, underlining that "it is clear that this agreement cannot be renegotiated".
The same European source also said that in the midst of the North Korean nuclear crisis, the agreement with Iran takes on "particular importance". "The message you give if you do not uphold the agreement would be: Do not negotiate, and in particular do not negotiate with the West because agreements are not honoured", the diplomat warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)