The European Union to Hold Meeting on 'Support for JCPOA' on Thursday

Reports indicate that European powers will hold a meeting on Thursday in Brussels to reaffirm the nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the JCPOA. According to a Reuters report, this meeting will include the foreign ministers of Iran, Britain, France, and Germany, during which Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, will announce the European powers' stance in support of the JCPOA. Diplomatic sources stated that Iran will also be asked to cooperate with international inspectors during this meeting. An unnamed European diplomat said, 'Our goal is to send a message to Washington that Iran is cooperating, and it is better to remain within the framework of the nuclear agreement than to isolate Tehran.' Another European diplomat noted that the choice of Thursday for this meeting was not coincidental, stating, 'This is a campaign we have been pursuing since October.' This reference relates to comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has not confirmed that Tehran is complying with its commitments under the JCPOA. Trump must decide by Friday whether to continue the suspension of sanctions against Iran as part of the JCPOA. If the U.S. president does not agree, sanctions will be reinstated. Under the nuclear agreement, if Iran adheres to the terms of the JCPOA, the U.S. must renew the suspension of sanctions every 120 days. Iran claims that the reinstatement of nuclear sanctions by the U.S. violates the agreement between Iran and the world powers, and Tehran will take reciprocal actions, one of which could be increasing uranium enrichment. Behrouz Kamalvandi, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, stated on Wednesday that 'if the suspension of sanctions is not signed on time, we will immediately take the first reciprocal action on that day or in the first few days after.' He identified 'reducing cooperation with the Agency' as one of these actions and added that 'Iran has the capacity to quickly increase nuclear activities, especially in uranium enrichment, beyond the pre-JCPOA period.' Some reports indicate that Trump is inclined to continue the suspension of sanctions, but on the condition that some sanctions be applied against Iran in another form. Previously, 52 U.S. security experts, including retired officers, former congressional representatives, and former diplomats, had written a letter urging the U.S. president not to withdraw from the JCPOA. The signatories of the letter, organized by the 'National Coalition to Prevent Iran from Gaining Nuclear Weapons,' stated, 'We support the rights of Iranian citizens for freedom of expression and peaceful protest and condemn the use of force against peaceful demonstrations.' They added, 'In response to developments in Iran, both now and in the future, the United States must be careful not to take steps that would undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).' The U.S. president announced on October 22 that his administration could not certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear agreement with world powers and delegated the decision to the U.S. Congress. Trump believes that Iran's continued missile activities and the Islamic Republic's regional policies 'are inconsistent with the spirit of the nuclear agreement.' He has also expressed concern about the 'sunset clause' in the Iran nuclear agreement, which pertains to the lifting of restrictions after a certain period of the nuclear agreement, raising concerns that 'Iran could achieve the capability to build nuclear weapons even before the end of the agreement.' In this context, it is reported that the U.S. government and Congress are seeking to eliminate this 'sunset clause,' which would remove oversight and restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.