European lawmakers ask Congress to save Iran deal
Hundreds of lawmakers in Germany, France and the UK wrote an open letter to the US Congress asking it to back the Iran nuclear deal, despite US President Donald Trump's threat to terminate the agreement next month; CNN reported.
"Abandoning the deal would diminish the value of any promises or threats made by our countries. It would also diminish our capability to keep Iran nuclear-free after the expiration of the special provisions of the JCPOA," the letter reads. "If we maintain our alliance now, we will be in the position to keep Iran's nuclear aspirations in check in the long run."
The letter continues: "But let us be clear: if the deal breaks down, it will well-nigh be impossible to assemble another grand coalition built around sanctions against Iran. We must preserve what took us a decade to achieve and has proven to be effective."
The 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA ), was the crowning achievement of 20 months of grueling negotiations involving the US, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and Iran. It guarantees that Iran's nuclear program will remain peaceful, without developing nuclear weapons, in exchange for lifting US and EU nuclear-related sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. The International Atomic Energy Agency was charged with verifying that Iran adheres to the agreement with regular inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.
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