Iran, P4+1 still hopeful to find a way out of the US pressures

Tabnak – The first ministerial meeting of the JCPOA signatories after the US withdrawal was held yesterday, with the European countries declaring their commitment to continue their attempt in order to preserve Iran’s benefits from the nuclear deal. However, the executive details of their plans have yet to be cleared.

In this vein, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says all the remaining signatories to the 2015 landmark nuclear agreement have political will to stand up to the United States' move to withdraw from the deal.

Zarif made the remarks while addressing reporters in the Austrian capital Vienna on Friday following a meeting with his counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia for the first time since US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out from the nuclear accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May.

Zarif pointed to his "very serious and constructive" talks with the remaining parties of the nuclear deal and said, "I believe that there is political will to continue work and save this agreement but we must see what will happen to this issue in practice."

However, he warned that if the European sides fail to properly fulfill their commitments, Iran would take its own measures to counter the US withdrawal from the JCPOA. The top Iranian diplomat said the participants at the Vienna meeting agreed to take "good measures" to save the JCPOA.

Zarif, one of the architects of the nuclear pact, further said Iran received an economic package from the European countries two days ago but Iranian "President [Hassan] Rouhani said it is not enough."He added that Europe must translate its commitment and measures into action before the re-imposition of the US sanctions on Tehran.

It must activate a “blocking statute” - legislation banning EU companies from complying with US sanctions on Iran - and allow the European Investment Bank (EIB) to do business in Iran, he said.

Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA have agreed to continue talking, including on economic measures, over how to save the nuclear deal after the US withdrawal.

"The participants recognized that, in return for the implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments, the lifting of sanctions, including the economic dividends arising from it, constitutes an essential part of the JCPOA," Mogherini said.

In the same vein, Iran's remaining partners in the JCPOA vowed on Friday to keep the energy exporter plugged into the global economy.

Foreign ministers from three European nations along with Russia and China agreed on an 11-point list of joint goals, saying they remained committed to the nuclear accord and to building up economic relations with Iran, including "the continuation of Iran's export of oil and gas" and other energy products.

The US president announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement and that he plans to reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.