In Luxembourg on Monday 16 April, the European foreign affairs ministers discussed the situation in Iran, particularly the agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme, reiterating their commitment to this agreement.
The United States, which is threatening to withdraw from the agreement, has set a deadline of 12 May for the agreement's shortcomings to be remedied. The Europeans which negotiated the agreement – the E3 of Germany, France and the UK – are currently in talks with the Americans.
The Europeans are trying to strike a fairly complex balance in order to keep the Americans in the nuclear agreement, but without offending the Iranians, according to Luxembourg Minister Jean Asselborn. “If we do nothing, we accept this is the end of the agreement. If we [take measures], we do not know whether it will work”, he summed up, warning that if the Europeans go too far, Iran may depart from the agreement.
“To sum up: if the E3 managed to find a solution with the United States – which is by no means certain”, if measures needed to be taken to save the agreement, “then in that situation, I think there will be unilateral support from Europe”, he went on to say. He explained that “Europe wants to safeguard the nuclear agreement, but this cannot be at any price”.
“There are many pessimists [as to the prospect of keeping the US on board: Ed], but we have to try” to rescue the agreement, said Simon Coveney of Ireland.
France, the UK and Germany have proposed sanctions against Iran for its destabilising role in Syria.
However, according to the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the fact that these countries are the ones that are negotiating with the United States is merely a coincidence. “It is fairly clear to me that there is no link between the nuclear agreement and the sanctions proposed over Iran's activities in Syria”, she explained. She went on to say that the two matters were separate and that this was also the case in the discussions between ministers.
The adoption of new sanctions against Iran is still not the subject of an agreement between the ministers. There is no decision or consensus as to whether these measures would be useful or appropriate at this moment in time, Mogherini said.
The German minister, Heiko Maas, said the ministers had decided to keep the sanctions on the ministerial agenda. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)