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Nuclear deal guarantor nations reiterate call to Iran to observe commitments

"Full and effective implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is of the utmost importance," France, UK and Germany said

PARIS, December 1. /TASS/. France, the United Kingdom and Germany once again urged Iran to fully comply with its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in a joint statement released late on Saturday.

"Full and effective implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is of the utmost importance," the statement says. "Iran must return to full compliance with its commitments under the JCPoA without delay."

"We reaffirm our readiness to consider all mechanisms in the JCPoA, including the dispute resolution mechanism, to resolve the issues related to Iran’s implementation of its JCPoA commitments," it says.

The document stresses that the three nations "remain fully committed to pursuing our efforts towards a diplomatic resolution within the framework of the JCPoA."

The foreign ministers of the three nations welcomed the decision of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden to join as shareholders to the EU mechanism for financial transactions with Iran, INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges).

"This step further strengthens INSTEX and demonstrates European efforts to facilitate legitimate trade between Europe and Iran and is a clear expression of our continuing commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA)," the statement reads.

The future of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal was called in question after the United States’ unilateral pullout on May 8, 2018 and Washington’s subsequenet unilateral oil export sanctions against Tehran. On November 6, Iran has started the process of injecting gas into centrifuges at its underground Fordow facility, which de-facto meant the start of the fourth stage of Iran’s reduction of its nuclear commitments.

In January 2019, France, Germany and the UK established INSTEX to facilitate legal trade with Iran bypassing the US sanctions. The mechanism has only been operating in the pilot regime so far. Iran argues that all other participants, Europeans in the first place, ignore some of their own JCPOA obligations in the economic sphere, thus making the deal in its current shape senseless.