Tabnak – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on a trip to Europe recently in a bid to convince the Europeans to increase the pressures on Iran. However, his trip seems to have achieved just little success as the European countries continue to insist on the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran.
In this vein, British Prime Minister Theresa May has reiterated her country’s support for the Iran nuclear deal in talks with her Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying London would remain committed to its obligations under the multilateral accord as long as Tehran is.
In a meeting with Netanyahu on Wednesday, the UK premier said the UN-backed nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), remains “the best route” to what she called “preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”
The UK premier conceded “differences of opinion” with Netanyahu regarding the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and said, “We will remain committed to it as long as Iran meets its obligations.” She, however, said there were other issues, including Tehran’s ballistic missile activities and its regional role that need to be addressed.
London was the third and last destination in Netanyahu’s European tour, which had earlier taken him to France and Germany. The Israeli regime has stepped up its lobbying attempts against the Iran deal since the US withdrawal from the landmark accord in defiance of stern international warnings from the other signatories.
Contrary to the US and Israel, Europe insists the 2015 agreement works and Iran has respected it as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In this vein, diplomatic delegations from Iran and the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal (Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) gathered in Tehran on Thursday for an expert meeting.
The gathering of experts, held at the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies, is the first session of the joint commission of the JCPOA parties in Iran ever since the nuclear agreement was struck in 2015.
Presence of American diplomats was apparently the main obstacle to holding such meetings in Iran in the past, but the US administration’s withdrawal from the multilateral agreement has made it possible for the diplomats to convene in Tehran.
The agenda of the expert gathering in Tehran is to find a mechanism for maintaining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action without the US and securing Iran’s economic interests under the nuclear accord.
Meanwhile, the three European nations has asked Washington to "grant exemptions from US sanctions for EU companies" that have been doing business with Iran since the deal came into force in 2016.
Also in mid-May, the European Commission, which acts as the EU’s executive body, rushed to block the American bans against Iran by activating its Blocking Statute, which makes it illegal for any EU company to comply with US sanctions.
On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1, and imposed a new wave of unilateral sanctions against Iran.
