Fearing war, nuclear proliferation, Europe scrambles to calm Iran tensions

By John Irish and Robin Emmott

 

 

FILE PHOTO: The Iranian flag flutters in front the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria July 10, 2019. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European nations will seek on Friday to find ways to guide the United States and Iran away from confrontation knowing that a miscalculation from either side could leave the bloc facing a war and a serious nuclear proliferation crisis at its doorstep.

 

EU foreign ministers, in a rare emergency meeting, may avoid any tough diplomatic response for now. Washington and Tehran backed off from intensified conflict following the U.S. killing of an Iranian general, and Tehran's retaliatory missile strikes avoided military casualties.

 

"Iran’s desire to prevent the crisis from escalating has bought us some time, it has the effect of cooling this down just a little," a senior EU diplomat said.

But the simmering tensions have highlighted Europe's struggles to influence either side and play a mediating role with powerhouses Britain, France and Germany desperately trying to pressure Iran to stick to a 2015 nuclear pact and pullback from further escalation.

 

They also want to convince U.S. President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday called on them to join him in withdrawing from the nuclear agreement, that they are tough-minded allies who will not be deceived by Tehran.

 

With Baghdad also caught between the crossfire of Washington and Tehran, there are growing concerns that the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants could be weakened, or even forced out of Iraq, something that the European powers see as crucial to prevent for their own security interests.

 

"We need to coordinate and maximise the effect everybody has in trying to deescalate what the Iranians do, but it's the same for the Americans. What's most worrying is a miscalculation," said a French diplomatic source.

 

NUCLEAR VIOLATIONS

But Iran's decision on Monday to scrap limits imposed on its nuclear enrichment under the arms control accord has also left the European powers in an awkward position.

 

Iran, which says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes, has already breached many of the restrictions under the deal, intended to increase the amount of time Tehran would need to accumulate enough fissile material for an atomic bomb from two to three months to about a year.

 

The latest announcements could start drastically reducing that time and the three European powers, who along with Russia and China, have attempted to salvage the deal since the United States pulled out and reimposed tough economic sanctions in 2018, are keen to send a firm message that the breaches are unacceptable.

 

They have agreed to launch a dispute resolution process within the accord that could ultimately lead to renewed U.N. sanctions on Tehran, but have hesitated on the timing following this week's tensions fearing that Iran may react badly.

 

Despite its nuclear announcement, Tehran has said inspectors from the international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, can continue their inspections, leaving some wiggle room for diplomacy.

 

"Iran has not set any targets or deadlines when it comes to uranium enrichment targets, so that gives us time," a second EU diplomat said.

 

A third EU diplomat said the decision to launch the process had been made, but that Friday was unlikely.

 

"There is a concern that it could trigger an Iranian escalation," said a European diplomat.

 

"We have made it clear that our objective in doing this is to resolve our differences over Iran's violations within the framework of the nuclear deal.

 

Launching this process is not aimed at going to the U.N. for now."

 

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-10

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Surprising to see that while Canada and the UK come out with an announcements that the at the Ukrainian plane was almost for sure downed by an iranian missile by mistake or not, the rest of europe just mum's the word about it, don't know, don't want to know, not wanting, god forbid, to upset Iran and lose lucrative business contracts, but then again, nothing new here, Europ was always a big penderer to to the Aram/Muslim world...

6 hours ago, ezzra said:

Surprising to see that while Canada and the UK come out with an announcements that the at the Ukrainian plane was almost for sure downed by an iranian missile by mistake or not, the rest of europe just mum's the word about it, don't know, don't want to know, not wanting, god forbid, to upset Iran and lose lucrative business contracts, but then again, nothing new here, Europ was always a big penderer to to the Aram/Muslim world...

Maybe they are waiting for forensic proof before engaging their mouths.

The Europeans have acted disgracefully in this whole Iran affair. After signing the JCPOA and America reneging on the agreement, the Europeans have refused to trade with Iran. Frankly, they should have had the decency to put vast taxes on US firms operating in Europe and used that as a fund to pay the fines the US imposed on any EU fund doing business with Iran.

 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

"We have made it clear that our objective in doing this is to resolve our differences over Iran's violations within the framework of the nuclear deal.

Nut cases - how do you resolve issues with a country that openly burns your flag and openly chants you should die in their parliament ? 

A bit outrageous I know but I don't think it would be such a bad thing if these.............. Nope, I'm not allowed to say what I think for fear of a holiday or total ban, best keep your thoughts to yourself GT ???? 

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

 

Nut cases - how do you resolve issues with a country that openly burns your flag and openly chants you should die in their parliament ? 

Are they burning the EU flag as well ( your quote was of an eu diplomat)? Anyway.... weren’t issues resolved resulting in the 2015 agreement..

 

the question should rather be... how do you resolve issues when there is no mechanism to protect any agreement into the future.... and how can you trust the signature of an American representative.

 

white man speaking with forked tongue has been a common failing thruout us history it seems.... naive folk assuming that the other party (to wit... us govt) will acting honorably in it’s dealings with them... 

4 hours ago, jany123 said:

white man speaking with forked tongue has been a common failing thruout us history it seems.... naive folk assuming that the other party (to wit... us govt) will acting honorably in it’s dealings with them...

Vote Labour and support Corbyn !!!

14 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

The Europeans have acted disgracefully in this whole Iran affair. After signing the JCPOA and America reneging on the agreement, the Europeans have refused to trade with Iran. Frankly, they should have had the decency to put vast taxes on US firms operating in Europe and used that as a fund to pay the fines the US imposed on any EU fund doing business with Iran.

Hey that would work 

Posts removed.

 

I read that the Iran leadership say it is scientifically impossible for a missile to

have down the Jet. I propose that the Ayatollah and some clerics get put on a

remote controlled jet, then they can all be shown just how fast a surface to

air missile can travel. Maybe it is time for the dinosaurs  to all be sent away from

this life we live in.

Geezer

In the end the only way to relive the Iranians getting their blood soaked hands on nukes is to physically take them away with force unfortunately ???? 

LOL.. Who rights this stuff? The EU foreign ministers are only trying to figure out how they're going to make up the €70billion short once the UK leaves the EU... and soon there will be more countries leaving. lol.. Clearly Reuters is no different than CNN or MSNBC when it comes to creating fake news.

On 1/10/2020 at 4:43 PM, RichardColeman said:

 

Nut cases - how do you resolve issues with a country that openly burns your flag and openly chants you should die in their parliament ? 

Often wondered why Iran and Iraq don't just join up and name the new place Irate.

On 1/10/2020 at 8:35 AM, ezzra said:

Surprising to see that while Canada and the UK come out with an announcements that the at the Ukrainian plane was almost for sure downed by an iranian missile by mistake or not, the rest of europe just mum's the word about it, don't know, don't want to know, not wanting, god forbid, to upset Iran and lose lucrative business contracts, but then again, nothing new here, Europ was always a big penderer to to the Aram/Muslim world...

The USA of course NEVER pandered to the Arab world, did they?

 

Well apart from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq etc.

On 1/11/2020 at 8:14 AM, sammieuk1 said:

In the end the only way to relive the Iranians getting their blood soaked hands on nukes is to physically take them away with force unfortunately ???? 

Naturally you will volunteer to be in the first wave.

IMHO it is about time that the EU, Russia and China and the rotw ignored the US sanctions and started applying sanctions against the USA.