US unilateralism on the Iran deal is forming unexpected global alignments

Tabnak – US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal has started to make unexpected international alignments, as the EU and China are intensifying their joint efforts to preserve the deal. Meanwhile, Russia warns about Washington’s desire to enter a full confrontation with Iran.

According to the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, the bloc and China share commitment to preserve a nuclear agreement signed between Iran and major world powers in 2015 and to work for its continuation.

Mogherini was speaking at a joint press point with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Brussels on Friday following the EU-China strategic dialogue after the United States' move to withdraw from the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), last month.

"Indeed, we are one hundred percent determined to continue cooperation between China and the European Union, but I can add also with Russia as it belongs to the signatory countries, but also with other partners internationally who are committed to preserve the nuclear deal and its full implementation," the senior EU official said.

She noted that China played an "essential" role in the nuclear negotiations and would continue its leading role in the upcoming weeks, months and years "in continuing the full implementation of the agreement."

The senior EU official stressed the importance of "the continued implementation of the nuclear-related commitments" under the JCPOA and said, "China's contribution here is relevant, key, and essential - in particular, the leading role that China has on the Arak [heavy water reactor] project."

Meanwhile, The Russian foreign minister has said that the United States chose to pull out of the 2015 nuclear agreement with an eye to “a total confrontation with Iran.”

Addressing the annual Primakov Readings conference in Moscow on Wednesday, Sergei Lavrov enumerated some of the reasons behind the aggravating problem of weapons of mass destruction in today’s world, criticizing US actions as a contributing factor.

“I remember the apocalyptic predictions of the 1980s about a ‘nuclear winter.’ Fortunately, it did not come to pass, although the ‘Arab Spring’ came, which, through a series of tragic events, also exacerbated the problem of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

“I am referring to the withdrawal of the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program with the view of organizing a total confrontation with Iran, and many staged situations involving the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government aimed at changing the regime in Damascus,” he added.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s pullout from the nuclear deal, vowing to reinstate nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo later threatened Tehran with the “strongest sanctions in history” if it did not comply with a list of steep demands.

Iran is holding negotiations with other signatories to the JCPOA, seeking assurances that the country’s interests would still be protected under the accord without the US.