Britain yesterday said there was a “small window” of time to save the Iran nuclear deal, as Tehran signaled it would resume its nuclear program — seen by the West as a cover for making atomic bombs — if Europe failed to do more to salvage the pact.
US-Iranian tensions have worsened since US President Donald Trump last year abandoned the nuclear deal under which Tehran agreed to curtail its atomic program in return for relief from economic sanctions crippling its economy.
“Iran is still a good year away from developing a nuclear bomb. There is still some closing, but small window to keep the deal alive,” British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt told reporters on arrival for a foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
The meeting would seek to flesh out how to convince Iran and the US to reduce tensions and initiate a dialogue amid fears that the 2015 deal is close to collapse.
In reaction to the re-imposition of tough US sanctions, Tehran has reduced some of its nuclear commitments under the deal, leading the European parties to the pact —France, Britain and Germany — to warn it about not fully complying with the terms.
When asked whether the European powers would seek to penalize Iran for breaking parts of its nuclear commitments, Hunt said they would seek a meeting of the parties to deal with it.
“We will and there’s something called a joint commission, which is the mechanism set up in the deal which is what happens when one side thinks the other side has breached it, that will happen very soon,” he said.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the nation would return to the situation before the nuclear deal unless European countries fulfilled their obligations.
“These actions are not taken out of stubbornness, but to give diplomacy a chance so the other side comes on its own and fulfils its duties,” agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said. “And if the Europeans and America don’t want to fulfil their commitments we will create a balance in this deal by reducing commitments and return the situation to four years ago.”
Iran said the European nations must do more to guarantee it the economic benefits it was meant to receive in return for curbs to its nuclear program under the deal.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian said Europe had to remain united in trying to preserve the deal, adding that Tehran should reverse its decision not to comply with parts of it.
Hunt said that while he agreed with the US on finding a long-term solution to Iran’s regional influence, he disagreed on Washington’s current approach and said Europe should do its utmost to help Iran and its economy if it sticks to its nuclear commitments.
The Europeans are still trying to set up their Instex mechanism, a conduit for barter-based trade with Iran, but an equivalent Iranian mechanism has yet to be established.
Should the mechanism go ahead, it would initially only deal in products such as food, which is not subject to US sanctions.
Diplomats have said that in any case they fear US blowback, while Iranian officials have repeatedly said Instex must include oil sales or provide substantial credit facilities for it to be beneficial.
“We will do what we can to guarantee that there is no economic embargo against Iran and that European companies can continue working there,” Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell told reporters.
“It’s very difficult because US laws applied in an extraterritorial manner, in a way that we don’t recognize, make it difficult,” he said, adding that Spain would join the Instex mechanism.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not