US said to only want European ‘commitment’ to improve Iran nuclear deal
In cable, State Department reportedly urges Britain, France and Germany to agree on weaknesses of accord that must be fixed
Taking a softer stance than US President Donald Trump on the Iran nuclear deal, the State Department is seeking an agreement with three European nations over which weaknesses in the accord must be improved, Reuters reported Sunday.
“We are asking for your commitment that we should work together to seek a supplemental or follow-on agreement that addresses Iran’s development or testing long-range missiles, ensures strong IAEA inspections, and fixes the flaws of the ‘sunset clause,'” the message from the State Department reads.
In January, Trump signed a waiver to keep the deal alive, but vowed it would be the last time he did so, unless the US and Europe worked to strengthen it.
“Today, I am waiving the application of certain nuclear sanctions, but only in order to secure our European allies’ agreement to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said in a statement. “This is a last chance.”
At the time, Trump laid out four conditions that must be met for him to not abrogate the deal, including increased inspections, ensuring that “Iran never even comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon” and that there is no expiration date to the nuke deal. The current one expires after a decade.
His last condition required Capitol Hill lawmakers to pass a bill unilaterally incorporating Iran’s missile program into the deal.
Trump must sign the next waiver on May 12, and reaching a full accord by that time is seen by some US and European officials as impossible, Reuters reported.
However, a senior State Department official told the news agency that it is aiming for a two-stage agreement, initially working with the Europeans toward an agreement on the weaknesses of the deal that must be fixed.
“We want a commitment from them that these are the deficiencies that need to be addressed…and an agreement that we will seek an agreement. That’s it,” he official said.
The next phase would reportedly be to take those issues to the remaining three signatories to the deal — Iran, Russia and China — and see whether there is some way of negotiating them.
Reportedly, US officials will meet with representatives from the UK, France and Germany on Tuesday to discuss meeting Trump’s demands.
However, confusion remains among the Europeans as to what exactly Trump wants, and whether he agrees with the softer stance presented by the State Department.
“The reality is that what we are doing now is to try to get the best package possible to convince Trump,” a European diplomat told Reuters. “Nobody knows what Trump will do or wants.”
Under the current accord, the US president has to sign the waivers every 120 days, while the American intelligence services monitor the Islamic Republic’s compliance with the deal, which rolled back crippling sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program.
The last time he faced a major deadline regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the deal is formally known, he decertified it under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), a congressionally mandated measure that requires the president to determine if Iran is in compliance.
The administration charged that Iran was not living up to the “spirit” of the agreement and asked Congress to unilaterally impose “trigger points” on the deal that will reimpose nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran, should it overstep certain bounds.
Eric Cortellessa and agencies contributed to this report.
