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French President Emmanuel Macron, left, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all believe that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal should be preserved [PPIO]
Fresh from his visit to Washington, where he tried to persuade Trump to stick to the agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call on Monday to “preserve and fully implement the Iran nuclear deal”.
Trump, who is repeatedly called the agreement a bad deal is due to make a final decision by May 12; Macron is due in Moscow at the end of May.
France and Russia are members of the P5+1 group, referring to the permanent UNSC members – in addition to the UK, China and US, plus Germany – who for two years negotiated with the Iranians in Geneva and Vienna to hammer out what ended up being the nuclear agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in July 2015.
The European powers agreed over the weekend to work to preserve the deal.
According to an official French government press release, Macron is looking to launch negotiations with the P5+1 group regarding Iran’s nuclear activities after 2025.
The US has indicated it may want some parts of the deal renegotiated or entirely scrapped. Iran has said that the 2015 deal is not up for further discussion, only implementation.
Iran also credits the Russian negotiating team and nuclear experts for making significant contributions to the drafting of the comprehensive arrangements, which made it possible to align the different, often opposing views, in order to sign the nuclear deal in Vienna, Austria in 2015.
In the meantime, Russia says it will stand steadfast in support of the 2015 nuclear agreement.
“Russia unwaveringly calls for keeping the so-called Iran deal viable. We believe that it has no alternative and should be honored by all parties,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently said.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
