The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, acknowledged on Wednesday 25 September that it is becoming increasingly difficult to preserve the Iranian nuclear agreement, while the United States has reimposed sanctions and Tehran is no longer respecting certain terms of the agreement.
“We have the will [...] to preserve the agreement. I will not hide the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so”, she explained after a meeting of the Joint Committee at ministerial level of the E3+2 (Germany, France, United Kingdom and China, Russia) and Iran, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. “The agreement is still in place”, she said, adding that the members of the joint committee would continue to work together to preserve the agreement, without ignoring the challenges. According to the High Representative, every measure taken by Iran so far is reversible.
The participants of the meeting issued a succinct joint statement, recalling that the joint action plan, “as endorsed by United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), remains a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and an important achievement of multilateral diplomacy”. They also stressed the importance of full and effective implementation of the agreement by all parties and confirmed their determination to pursue all efforts to preserve the agreement, “which is in the interest of all”. A security interest for all, combined with an economic interest for Iran, Ms Mogherini said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)