BICOM

Britain, France and Germany have been working with US officials to improve the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran, Reuters has reported.

European and Iranian diplomats confirmed that they will meet again this month to produce fresh proposals to address US President Donald Trump’s concerns and encourage him to renew US sanctions relief on 12 May.

Britain, France and Germany are working on new measures to deal with Iran’s ballistic missile programme in return for a US commitment to maintain the nuclear deal. President Trump said in January this was the “last chance… to fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal.” A senior French diplomat is reported to have said: “We need to see progress on these issues. Otherwise, because of Trump, it will lead to the collapse of the accord.” The European powers including diplomats from Britain, France and Germany are due to meet with US officials in Berlin on 15 March.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has previously said that he was “extremely concerned” about Iranian tests of ballistic missiles and called on Iran to stop its “provocative acts”.

The European powers’ first meeting with Iran was convened on the sidelines of last month’s Munich Security Conference, with one unnamed senior European diplomat saying: “In Munich we laid out what was expected from them in Yemen. They obviously said it wasn’t them, but we drew some conclusions to move forward together.” The role of pro-Iranian militias in southern Lebanon and Syria are also thought to be on the agenda for the next meeting.

A senior Iranian official responded by saying: “The West should gain our trust again…the nuclear deal was not fully implemented. How can we trust them on other issues?”

In addition to limiting Iranian ballistic missile testing, the US is also seeking assurances that inspectors have unfettered access to Iranian military bases and a significant extension of the nuclear deal’s expiry date. The New York Times has reported that, though European diplomats believe there is scope for progress on the first two, extending the duration of the deal is not yet on the table.