Europe to avoid triggering sanctions, will tolerate Iran's JCPOA suspension steps: WSJ

The Wall Street Journal has cited European diplomats as saying that Britain, France, and Germany - collectively known as the EU3 – will avoid triggering illegal sanctions against Iran and tolerate Tehran's suspension of its 2015 nuclear deal commitments.

The US daily reported on Thursday that European diplomats don't expect Iran to reverse the suspension of its nuclear deal commitments and that the diplomats "privately say they are prepared to tolerate those steps".

Earlier this month, the three European signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) triggered the dispute settlement mechanism featured in the nuclear deal in response to what they claimed was Iran’s violations of the deal.

Iran has rejected the accusations, saying it has suspended its JCPOA obligations as permitted under the deal in cases where other JCPOA signatories fail to uphold their commitments.

Earlier this month, Iran announced that it will no longer observe any JCPOA-related operational limitations on its nuclear industry and that it will continue activities based on its "technical needs".

According to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the announcement marked Iran's final step in its gradual and reciprocal suspension of its JCPOA obligations in the face of the illegal sanctions imposed by the US and the European signatories to meet their commitments.

SS