Germany’s Foreign Minister: Iran should accept the offer of diplomacy that’s on the table, including from the United States.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas – Reuters
Germany’s Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, on Wednesday urged Iran to accept diplomatic overtures from the West in order to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal, The Associated Press.
Maas accused Tehran of further undermining the transparency it is required to show under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the official name of the deal after Iran began restricting international inspections of its nuclear facilities.
“In the end, Iran needs to understand that what’s important is to de-escalate and accept the offer of diplomacy that’s on the table, including from the United States,” Maas said, according to AP.
Earlier this week, the Islamic Republic ended the implementation of the Additional Protocol of the 2015 nuclear deal that allows the IAEA to carry out snap-inspections at sites not declared to the agency.
With the move, Iran effectively set a deadline to lift the sanctions imposed on it within three months, after which it said it would erase surveillance footage of its nuclear facilities.
Maas said on Wednesday the transparency required of Iran under the JCPOA wouldn’t be fulfilled during that period.
“But we still want to use these three months, together with other partners in the nuclear agreement, to discuss step by step how the US can return to this accord,” Maas said. “And in particular (the discussion) will be about the sequence of measures. That is, who needs to take which step so that a general agreement can be achieved at the end of which the U.S. are part of this agreement again.”
Iran’s moves appear to be meant to apply pressure on US President Joe Biden to rejoin the 2015 deal, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
On Friday, the White House said that the US has accepted Europe’s offer to mediate conversations with Iran regarding the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran has said it is studying a European Union proposal for an informal meeting with the US.
Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/297481
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