European officials are signaling openness to cracking down on Iran’s support for terrorism and improving on the 2015 nuclear deal, which one diplomatic official attributed on Monday to the Trump administration’s tough talk.
European leaders warned against dismantling the deal last week at the United Nations, amid repeated challenges from President Donald Trump, who described the agreement as an “embarrassment.” But the U.K. and France
“What I’ve noticed over the past two or three months is a genuine and really quite serious intensification of contacts amongst us Europeans, but also with the experts in this administration—on how to increase the pressure on Iran, on what we might do about the sunset clauses, what we might do about intensifying inspections, and what we might do about what Iran is doing in the region,” said U.K.’s ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch.
“In a sense, what this administration has been saying since it came into office has changed the climate already on Iran,” he added. “It’s succeeding, and we would say, let’s carry on with that … but let’s keep the [nuclear deal].”
Darroch noted that Trump has shown interest in British ideas about using the deal’s inspection powers more effectively.
Trump administration officials have called on nuclear inspectors to examine Iranian military sites, a demand Iran has rejected. The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has not inspected an Iranian military facility since the implementation of the agreement, Reuters reported in late August.
French president Emmanuel Macron also said last week that “two or three pillars” should be added to the deal, including one that addresses what happens after caps on the country’s nuclear program expire in several years. His ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud attempted to allay concerns about the expiring limits Monday.
“After this agreement, Iran will be a full member of the NPT, and will implement the additional protocol—which means that Iran will not have the right of getting nuclear weapons,” he said, referring to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Trump administration is facing an October deadline that critics of the deal say could serve as a springboard for “fixing” it. Trump must certify to Congress every 90 days that Iran is fully implementing the agreement and that continued sanctions relief is in America’s vital national security interests, among other conditions. If he does not, Congress has 60 days to consider re-imposing sanctions—a situation that some proponents of de-certification say could help propel European allies into negotiations to improve the deal.
Araud said Monday that China and Russia, two of the countries that helped broker the deal, stand in the way of potential renegotiation.
“It takes two to tango,” he said. “Neither the Iranians, nor the Russians, nor the Chinese, really are saying that there could be a reopening of the negotiation.”
“Reopening the negotiation is a non-starter, and trying to get it, it’s a dead end,” he added.
German ambassador to the United States Peter Wittig also hazarded against renegotiation.
“You can never get a deal with this group of countries that will satisfy you 100 percent. It’s always less than perfect,” he said. “And anybody who says we get the perfect deal with those kinds of partners is just dreaming.”
All ambassadors present—German, French, British, and the ambassador to the European Union—doubled down on support for the deal.
“We are fully supportive of this agreement and we believe the eventual demise of this agreement would be a major loss,” said Ambassador of the EU to the U.S. David O’Sullivan. “We will continue to abide by this agreement as long as the agreement remains enforced and continues to function.”
