On Monday 21 May, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini spoke out in disagreement with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo regarding the possibility of a new agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme (the joint comprehensive plan of action – JCPOA).
"Secretary Pompeo’s speech has not demonstrated how walking away from the JCPOA has made or will make the region safer from the threat of nuclear proliferation or how it puts us in a better position to influence Iran’s conduct in areas outside the scope of JCPOA. There is no alternative to the JCPOA", she warned in a press release published a few hours after Pompeo's speech on Iran.
Mogherini again reiterated that the JCPOA was "the result of more than a decade of complex and delicate negotiations, based on (a) dual track approach and therefore the best possible outcome, striking the right balance".
The joint E3+3 and Iran Commission will meet in Vienna on 25 May. According to a French source, the meeting is not expected to be the occasion for Tehran to officially denounce the USA's non-respect of the agreement.
Mogherini also stated that the JCPOA "was never designed to address all issues in the relationship with Iran". "Concerns regarding Iran's regional role, terrorism and non-respect for human rights are regularly raised by the EU with Tehran", she added. Europeans and Iranians have notably begun discussions on the role played by Iran in Yemen (see EUROPE 12015). While Mogherini reiterated that the EU had implemented sanctions aiming to put pressure on Iran to change its behaviour, the European discussions for possible sanctions against Iranians acting in Syria has not been resumed since the US decision to quit the nuclear deal (see EUROPE 12002).
Tehran says EU must do more to support normalisation of trade and economic relations with Iran.
Mogherini also said the international community should support the normalisation of trade and economic relations with Iran. On 18 May, the EU announced measures to protect trade relations between the EU and Iran (see EUROPE 12023), and technical discussions were started with Tehran (see EUROPE 12023).
But it would seem that this is not enough for Iran. "With the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the expectations of Iranian public opinion concerning the EU have increased and (...) the EU's political support for the nuclear deal is not enough", Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated on 20 May after a meeting with European Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, who was visiting Iran. "The EU should take further concrete steps and increase its investment in Iran", he continued, saying that the EU's commitments to apply the nuclear deal were not compatible with the announcement of the probable withdrawal of big European companies from the country due to their fear of having extraterritorial measures imposed on them.
Strengthening cooperation on energy
Cañete and the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, reconfirmed their organisations' "continuing" commitment to implementation of the nuclear deal, especially as regards civil nuclear cooperation. "In a spirit of close collaboration", Cañete and Saleh announced the holding of a "third high level seminar on nuclear cooperation (...) in Brussels at the end of November 2018". They hailed the "strengthening of ties at all levels" and said they "looked forward to their development over the course of the coming months and coming years". The Commission and AEOI are particularly working together on nuclear R&D, nuclear safety and the non-energy application of nuclear energy and technology. "The Commission also firmly supports Iran's work to govern the safe and responsible use of nuclear energy, including accession to the relevant international conventions", Cañete and Saleh stated. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)