(Bloomberg) -- Germany, France and the U.K. affirmed their commitment to the Iran nuclear deal and called on the Islamic Republic to comply with the rules on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The countries said they regret the U.S. withdrawal from the Vienna Nuclear Agreement and the reintroduction of sanctions against Iran, according to a joint statement on Sunday. They also expressed “deep concern” about measures Tehran has taken since July 2019 -- such as its decision this month to stop abiding by limits on uranium enrichment.
“These measures must be reversed,” the three countries said in the statement. “We repeat our willingness, our commitment to de-escalation and continuing stability in the region.”
As Nuclear Deal Falters, How Close Is Iran to a Bomb?: QuickTake
Europe has insisted on keeping a nuclear accord with Iran on life support after the U.S. walked away from the deal. Iran also has reasons to avoid the deal's complete collapse -- if the accord survives until October, its provisions will end a United Nations arms embargo that would allow Iran to upgrade its conventional weapons.
See: Europe Actually Still Has an Important Card to Play on Iran
In contrast to the three European leaders' statement, President Donald Trump last week called on the U.K., Germany, France, Russia and China to abandon “the remnants of the Iran deal.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Vanessa Dezem in Frankfurt at vdezem@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, James Ludden
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