European pundits urge US to maintain Iran deal

In the statement of 76 European figures, published on Monday Sep 18, the signatories have expressed concern over the reports that the US administration might withdraw unilaterally from the multi-lateral deal, according to the European Leadership Network (ELN).

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council signed the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), under which Iran accepted to curb its nuclear activities in return of sanctions relief.

Trump has vowed he would decertify Iran's commitment and cancel the deal.

'Unilateral US action that jeopardized the JCPOA would be a grave mistake. It would harm US interests and US credibility in Europe and more widely, it would damage cooperation in the UN Security Council,' the statement said.

'The European Union, Moscow, Beijing, London, Paris and Berlin are also signatories of this multilateral agreement. Europe has a larger stake than the United States in the strict enforcement of the Iran nuclear deal,' it went on to say, urging the European countries to declare publicly and 'privately in Washington' that they would not support any US sanction, as far as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirms Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal.

The signatories, including George Robertson, former British Defense Secretary and former NATO Secretary General, Wolfgang Ischinger, Chair of the Munich Security Conference, Javier Solana, former EU High Representative and NATO Secretary General, and Igor Ivanov, former Russian Foreign Minister also urged the European parties to the JCPOA to declare that they would cooperate to maintain the deal, 'even in the absence of US participation'.

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