German Chancellor Angela Merkel has once again defended the Iran nuclear deal in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Europe to persuade its leaders to follow the US and quit the multilateral accord.
“There’s not agreement on every issue,” Merkel said on Monday after meeting with Netanyahu in Berlin, the first destination in Netanyahu’s tour that will also take him to France and the UK.
Merkel further said the UN-backed nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has helped provide “more transparency” on the Iranian nuclear program.
Germany and Israel, she said, agree on the need to prevent a “nuclear-armed” Iran, but have different views on the way to achieve that end.
US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the accord last month, despite stern international warnings from the other signatories, which consider it to be pivotal to regional and international peace and security.
Netanyahu, who has been vilifying the JCPOA since its conclusion in 2015, cranked up his rhetoric against the deal after Trump’s move.
Contrary to the US and Israel, Europe insists the 2015 agreement works and Iran has respected it as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In a news conference with Merkel, the Israeli premier said the Agency has to look deeper into Iran’s nuclear work based on “a lot of new information that Israel has now provided the IAEA.”
Last month, Netanyahu delivered a theatrical performance live on TV, accusing Iran of violating the JCPOA.
Standing in front of a large screen, the prime minister claimed that “Iran is brazenly lying” about its nuclear activities. He presented 55,000 pages of documents and 55,000 files on CDs as alleged evidence, without proceeding to reveal any contents.
Merkel also called on the UN nuclear watchdog to examine Israel’s material.
Before embarking on his European tour, Netanyahu said Iran would top the agenda of his talks.
“I’ll raise two issues: Iran and Iran,” he told the reporters.
French president Emmanuel Macron also says no indication of Iran breaching nuclear deal
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that there is “no indication” of Iran breaching the nuclear deal.
Macron made remarks during at a press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
“If you consider it insufficient but that it’s a step forward from what exist before, it’s better to keep it,” he added.
Macron went on to stress the importance of deescalating the situation in order to avoid conflict.
He called on “everyone to stabilize the situation and not give into this escalation which would lead to only one thing: conflict.”
He further noted that it was solid common sense that Washington’s move in ditching the deal would not encourage other parties to respect their obligations.
“When you decide to bring an end to a deal on your side, that does not encourage the other party to respect it,” he said, calling this “solid common sense”.
The Israeli premier stressed he had not asked France to pull out of the deal because it would collapse under the pressure of reinstated US sanctions.
“I did not ask President Macron to leave the deal. I think that economic realities are going to decide this matter, so it’s not what we focused on,” he noted.
“What we focused on, and what I focused on, is how to stop Iranian aggression in the region,” he said.
US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the accord last month, despite stern international warnings from the other signatories, which consider it to be pivotal to regional and international peace and security.
Netanyahu, who has been vilifying the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) since its conclusion in 2015, cranked up his rhetoric against the deal after Trump’s move.
Contrary to the US and Israel, Europe insists the 2015 agreement works and Iran has respected it as repeatedly confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Earlier in the day, the EU said a “first assessment” indicated that Iran’s declared intention to increase uranium enrichment capacity did not violate Tehran’s commitments under the nuclear agreement.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on Tuesday that the country has begun work to prepare the infrastructure for building advanced centrifuges at its Natanz enrichment facility, while respecting its commitments under the JCPOA.
The announcement came a day after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei ordered the AOEI to make preparations for enrichment of uranium up to a level of 190,000SWU (separative work unit) without any delay in case of a potential collapse of the Iran deal.
Stressing that the Iranian nation and government cannot tolerate to be both sanctioned and be put in the “nuclear custody,” Ayatollah Khamenei ordered the AEOI to take rapid steps to make preparations for starting uranium enrichment “up to a level of 190,000SWU for the time being within the framework of the JCPOA” and take other preliminary steps that the president has ordered from tomorrow.
On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the Iran nuclear deal in talks with Netanyahu, who is in Europe to persuade its leaders to follow the US and quit the multilateral accord.
“There’s not agreement on every issue,” and that the UN-backed nuclear deal, has helped provide “more transparency” on the Iranian nuclear program.
