Germany seeks more detail on what US wants on Iran nuke deal
Berlin says it will sit down with American officials, after Trump threatens to withdraw from pact if ‘terrible flaws’ are not fixed
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BERLIN — The German government says it will seek more detail on what the US wants regarding the nuclear deal with Iran after President Donald Trump demanded that European allies fix what he called “terrible flaws.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, stressed Monday that Germany stands by the nuclear deal. He said that Germany will analyze the situation with its European partners.
German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said officials will sit down with the Americans and “see what goal and request exactly Mr. Trump’s comments contain.” She said that Trump’s statement appeared to have been directed “first and foremost to his own Congress.”
Trump signed a waiver on Friday keeping the Iran nuclear deal alive for the moment, but stated it would be the last time he did so unless Congress and European countries heeded his call to strengthen the deal.
Trump laid out four conditions that must be met, including increased inspections, ensuring “Iran never even comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon,” and that there be no expiration date to the nuke deal. It currently expires after a decade.
His last condition required Capitol Hill lawmakers to pass a bill unilaterally incorporating Iran’s missile program into the nuclear deal.
Iran has repeatedly said that the nuclear accord cannot be renegotiated, including on Saturday when the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Tehran would “accept no changes” to the deal and will not allow the accord to be linked to any non-nuclear issue.
Times of Israel staff and agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.