Europeans sacrificing nuclear deal for trade interests: Iran

Tehran: Iran accused European governments Thursday of sacrificing a troubled 2015 nuclear deal to avoid trade reprisals from US President Donald Trump who has led opposition to the

agreement.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the decision by Britain, France and Germany to heed US pressure to lodge a complaint on Tuesday alleging violation of the deal by Iran deprived them of any right to claim the moral high ground.

The three governments "sold out remnants of #JCPOA (the nuclear deal) to avoid new Trump tariffs," Zarif

charged.

He was alluding to a report by the Washington Post on Wednesday that cited European sources as saying that the Trump administration had renewed a threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on European car exports if the three governments held

back. "If you want to sell your integrity, go ahead," Zarif tweeted. "But DO NOT assume high moral/legal

ground."

The European states initiated a dispute mechanism process set up under the deal, which allows a party to claim significant non-compliance by another party before a joint commission, with appeals possible to an advisory board and ultimately to the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, Iran's president said on Thursday that there is "no limit" to the country's enrichment of uranium following its decision to abandon its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal in response to the killing of its top general in a US airstrike.

In a speech before the heads of banks, Rouhani said the nuclear program is in a "better situation" than it was before the nuclear agreement with world powers. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement in May 2018, in part because it did not address Iran's support for armed groups across the region and its ballistic missile

programme.

The US has since imposed "maximum" sanctions on Iran's economy. Iran continued to abide by the agreement until last summer, when it began openly breaching some of its limits, saying it would not be bound by the deal if it saw none of its promised economic

benefits.