U.N., EU, Russia back Iran nuclear deal
as Trump meets Macron
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[April 23, 2018]
By Tom Miles and Maria Kiselyova
GENEVA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. allies and
rivals spoke out in support of the Iran nuclear deal on Monday,
bolstering French President Emmanuel Macron's pitch to U.S. President
Donald Trump that there was no "Plan B" for keeping a lid on Tehran's
atomic ambitions.
Macron is on something of a rescue mission for the 2015 Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump has vowed to scrap
unless European allies strengthen it by mid-May.
A nuclear non-proliferation conference in Geneva heard repeated calls
for parties to the deal -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain,
France and Germany -- to ensure its implementation and preservation.
"The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action continues to be the best way to
ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program and to
realize the promised tangible economic benefits for the Iranian people,"
U.N. High representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu said.
But U.S. non-proliferation envoy Robert Ford said Iran presented a very
real long-term challenge to the non-proliferation regime.
"Iran (is) a country that for years illegally and secretly sought to
develop nuclear weapons, suspended its weaponization work only when
confronted by the potentially direst of consequences without ever coming
clean about its illicit endeavors," he said.
"For several more years (it) continued its efforts to enrich uranium in
violation of legally-binding U.N. Security Council requirements, and
retains the ability to position itself, several years hence, dangerously
close to rapid weaponization."
On a visit to Beijing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he
had agreed with his Chinese counterpart to block any U.S. attempt to
sabotage the deal.
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U.N. High representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu
attends the 2nd Preparatory session of the 2020 Non Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at the United Nations in Geneva,
Switzerland April 23, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
"We are against revising these agreements, we consider it very
counter productive to try to reduce to zero years of international
work carried out via talks between the six major powers and Iran,"
Lavrov said after talks with the Chinese government’s top diplomat,
State Councillor Wang Yi.
"We will obstruct attempts to sabotage these agreements which were
enshrined in a U.N. Security Council resolution," Lavrov said.
EU disarmament envoy Jacek Bylica said the deal strengthened the
international non-proliferation regime, contributed to regional and
international security and ensured the exclusively peaceful nature
of Iran's nuclear program.
Cornel Seruta, a senior official at the International Atomic Energy
Agency, said the deal had significantly improved access to Iran.
"In short, Iran is now subject to the most robust nuclear
verification regime and Iran is implementing its nuclear related
commitments under the JCPOA," he said. "It is essential that Iran
continues to fully implement those commitments."
(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Catherine Evans and Matthew
Mpoke Bigg)
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