Three European Powers: Russia Should Not Add Any Conditions to Iran Agreement

The European troika has called on Russia not to add any conditions to an agreement with Iran.

Britain’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday read a joint statement by his country, France, and Germany to the IAEA Board of Governors, in which the European parties to the JCPOA asked Russia not to complicate the agreement with Iran by adding conditions to it.

Britain, France, and Germany warned at the beginning of their statement, referring to the nearly doubled increase in enriched uranium stockpile since the last meeting of the Board of Governors in November last year, that “Iran’s nuclear program has never been this advanced and is exposing the international community to unprecedented levels of risk.”

While emphasizing that Iran has no acceptable non-military justification for 20 to 60 percent enrichment, they added that uranium production at such high concentrations by a country without a nuclear weapons program is unprecedented, and the Islamic Republic’s research and development of advanced centrifuges and their use have led to a steady advancement of Iran’s enrichment capabilities.

These three countries, referring to 11 months of intensive negotiations in Vienna and being “very close” to finalizing an agreement that would address “immediate” concerns and return Iran’s nuclear program to the framework of JCPOA restrictions and the reimplementation of additional protocols, warned that the window of hope is fading. Calling on all parties to make political decisions, they asked Russia not to add additional conditions to the JCPOA and called for concrete steps by Iran to return to the agreement.

The Biden administration has repeatedly emphasized that it considers “diplomacy” the best option for resolving Iran’s nuclear issue, but if negotiations fail, it will resort to “other options.”

Source: Voice of America