BRUSSELS—“We must not exclude Iran’s responsibility in the proliferation of ballistic missiles and in its very questionable role in the near- and Middle East,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday in Brussels during a meeting with his 27 European Union counterparts to discuss Iran.
The ministers discussed the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) but also other issues outside the scope of the agreement, in particular Iran’s ballistic missiles programme, as well as the role of Iran in the increasing tensions in the region, including in Syria and Yemen.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to unilaterally pull out of the deal if it is not revised by May 12. He has called the nuclear deal as “the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into”.
According to Reuters, which cited a confidential document, the United Kingdom, France and Germany have proposed fresh sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missiles and its role in Syria’s war in a bid to persuade Washington to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
The proposal was sent to European Union capitals on Friday to sound out support for such sanctions, as they would need the support of all 28 EU member governments.
‘’’We attach strategic importance to the full implementation of the agreement by all parties. It is for us a matter of security, both for Europe and for the rest of the world,’’ Mogherini said.
She added : ‘’And obviously there are issues like Syria or Yemen, on which we have very critical positions on Iran moves, but we are determined to address them outside of the scope of the nuclear agreement.’’
In response to a question from a journalist, she said that the issue of ballistic missiles ‘’is an issue that we constantly raise with Iran and, again, separately from the nuclear-related issues. It is a matter of disagreement.’’
She mentioned that the European Union ‘’has already in place quite a heavy sanction regime on Iran, non-nuclear related, for different reasons, for different chapters’’, including on human rights, but she stressed that the question of new sanctions was not the focus of Monday’s meeting.
‘’Today’s meeting was focusing mainly on the need to preserve and protect a nuclear agreement that is working and that, if disrupted, would create an additional security threat and concern in the region,’’ she said.