Iran, EU, UK, France, Germany Issue Joint Statement in Support of JCPOA

British, French and German foreign ministers, along with the EU’s top diplomat, discussed the next steps with their Iranian counterpart, a week after US President Donald Trump refused to remain in the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We all agreed that we have a relative in intensive care and we all want to get him or her out of intensive care as quickly as possible,” Mogherini told reporters after the 90-minute meeting, according to the official website of the EU.

She said all sides had agreed to find practical solutions over the coming weeks. Those included continuing to sell Iran’s oil and gas products, maintaining effective banking transactions and protecting European investments in Iran.

“I cannot talk about legal or economic guarantees but I can talk about serious, determined, immediate work from the European side,” Mogherini said.

Following is the full text of the joint statement:

I just met with the Foreign Ministers of France (Jean-Yves Le Drian), Germany (Heiko Maas), the United Kingdom (Boris Johnson) and of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Mohammad Javad Zarif) this afternoon and this evening, in two separate meetings, to discuss our common lines and the work ahead of us, following the announcement made by the United States of its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear deal.

We recalled our commitment to the continued, full and effective implementation of the Iran nuclear deal that was unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, as a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and a significant diplomatic achievement.

We, together, regretted the withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and we recognized that the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions and the normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran constitute essential parts of the agreement.

We stressed the commitment we all share to ensure that this will continue to be delivered and we agreed to this end to deepen our dialogue at all levels.

By the way, our experts were working together already today for many hours.

We undertook, in particular, to launch intensive expert discussions - that, as I said, have already started today - with Iran, addressing the following issues with a view to arriving at practical solutions in the next few weeks:

Maintaining and deepening economic relations with Iran;

The continued sale of Iran's oil and gas condensate petroleum products and petrochemicals and related transfers;

Effective banking transactions with Iran;

Continued sea, land, air and rail transportation relations with Iran;

The further provision of export credit and development of special purpose vehicles in financial banking, insurance and trade areas, with the aim of facilitating economic and financial cooperation, including by offering practical support for trade and investment;

The further development and implementation of Memoranda of Understanding and contracts between European companies and Iranian counterparts;

Further investments in Iran;

The protection of European Union economic operators and ensuring legal certainty:

And last but not least, the further development of a transparent, rules-based business environment in Iran.

We reaffirmed together our resolve to continue to implement the nuclear deal in all its parts, in good faith, and in a constructive atmosphere, and we agreed to continue to consult intensively at all levels and also with other remaining participants of the Joint Commission to the JCPOA.

We will also hold a Joint Commission meeting in Vienna next week at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers or Political Directors - which is the usual level at which the Joint Commission meets - and obviously in the coming days we will continue to work along these lines following the good exchanges we had today, during the day and during the evening.

All in all it was a positive meeting. It allowed us to agree on a common set of lines of action and measures to put in place on which we will, as I said, start working as of tomorrow - some of the work has already started.

I will brief the [weekly meeting of the] College of the [European] Commission tomorrow morning on this. In particular, we will discuss some of the aspects of these measures that refer to work done at the level of the European Commission.

We also decided that EU Member States - starting with the E3 but also other Member States - will work on complementary mechanisms and measures, not only so as to go at the European Union level but also at national level to, in particular, protect the economic operators of the EU Member States. And I will have the opportunity to also brief the Heads of State or Government of the 28 EU Member States tomorrow evening at the leaders' dinner that we will have in Sofia. The E3 leaders will also be present and we will have, I believe, at that moment a first exchange also with the other 25 Member States.

Let me stress that the implementation of the JCPOA is also on the agenda of our next Foreign Affairs Council in some 10 days from now (on 28 May 2018). So the Foreign Ministers of all the 28 Member States will have - at the latest at that stage - the possibility of working together on common work along these and similar lines.