Germany, France and Britain spoke in a joint statement. Faced with statements by Tehran on its desire to free itself from any limit on the enrichment of uranium, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson again called on Sunday Iran to respect the nuclear agreement of 2015.
"We call on Iran to withdraw all measures that are not in accordance with the nuclear deal," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a joint statement.
A "crucial" de-escalation
The agreement was reached in Vienna in 2015 after twelve years of crisis and intense negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Russia) plus Germany. Iran pledges to reduce its nuclear capabilities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. But in 2018 President Donald Trump decided to unilaterally withdraw the United States from the agreement and restore sanctions. Since then, Iran has gradually freed itself from the commitments contained in the agreement.
The three European officials also spoke in their press release of the growing tensions following the American air strike which killed on Friday in Baghdad the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and an important pro-Iranian Iraqi official, Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis. In this context, they call on Iran, which has promised reprisals, to refrain from carrying out "new violent actions or to support such actions". “It is now crucial to de-escalate. We call on all actors to show maximum restraint and responsibility, ”say Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson.
Continue the fight against Daesh
European leaders also called on the parties concerned not to jeopardize the fight against the jihadists of Daesh, after the Iraqi Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the departure of thousands of American soldiers present in this country. “In this context, preserving the (anti-Daesh) coalition is of crucial importance. We call on the Iraqi authorities to continue the necessary support for the coalition, ”they said.
US soldiers stationed at bases in Iraq were deployed as part of an international coalition, at the invitation of the Iraqi government in 2014, to help fight Daesh. This joint press release was published a few hours after they spoke on the phone. Earlier on Sunday, a spokesman for the German government said the three leaders had agreed to cooperate in reducing tensions in the region.
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