EU to protect rights of its firms if US walks away from JCPOA

Tehran, Feb 3, IRNA – The European Union (EU) spokesman said that EU will support the legitimate rights of its companies if US withdraw from, Iran nuclear deal. “We would not speculate about hypothetical situations. The EU always seeks to protect the legitimate interests of its economic operators,” the spokesperson was quoted by European media “EURACTIV” as saying Friday while commenting on Europe position as regard Trump’s anti-JCPOA measures. Meanwhile, Luisa Santos, director for international relations at Business Europe, which represents EU-based enterprises was quoted as saying that “the business community backs the nuclear deal.” “If one of the partners decides to consider putting into question that agreement, therefore deciding on additional sanctions on Iran that do not take into account what the other partners are doing, that creates a problem for us,” Santos said. “The problem lies in the extraterritorial nature of the US sanctions, under which companies that are in any way involved with the US might be affected even if the EU maintains the current situation,” she was quoted as saying. “It’s a factor of risk that we have to take into account,” she insisted. US President Donald Trump, who had said his administration would decertify the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, decided on Jan 12 to extend the sanctions waiver to the country for the third time as a part of the landmark deal officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He claimed that this is the 'last time' that he certified the JCPOA unless the amendments that he had mentioned earlier be included to the landmark nuclear deal. Since Trump announced his decision on Iran deal, many European and American officials have expressed support of the deal. “We remain committed to the continued full and effective implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” EU spokesperson earlier said taking note of US President Donald Trump’s recent statement on Iran deal. Meanwhile, concurrent with Trump’s decision, US Department of the Treasury in an unfair and hostile move added 14 other Iranian individuals and institutes to the list of the sanctions under the pretext of human rights violation and involvement in missile program. Reacting to Trump’s anti-Iran policies, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in his Twitter page wrote “Trump's policy & today’s announcement amount to desperate attempts to undermine a solid multilateral agreement, maliciously violating its paras 26, 28 & 29. JCPOA is not renegotiable: rather than repeating tired rhetoric, US must bring itself into full compliance -just like Iran.” 1378/IRNA