Europe Will Not Compromise With US Over Iran Sanctions - Macron

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2020) European participants of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will not accept US policy of sanctioning Iran, French President Emmanuel Macron said at the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Tuesday.

"We will not compromise on the activation of a mechanism that the United States is not in a position to activate on its own after leaving the agreement," Macron said in a video message. "That would be to undermine the Security Council and the integrity of its decisions and would further exacerbate tensions in the region."

The French leader called on the international community to build a framework for useful action and fulfill the agreement.

Macron noted that the "maximum pressure" policy did not reach the goal to end Iran's destabilizing activity.

In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with Russia, China, France, Germany, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It required that Iran scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the United States abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran.

Earlier this year, the US tried to campaign for the restoration of international sanctions on Iran, specifically, an extension to the arms embargo, but all of its draft resolutions ended up being rejected.

On Monday, US administration announced new sanctions against Iran. Washington's envoy Eliot Abrams said the United States will expand sanctions against Tehran until the country is ready to come back to the negotiating table.