PARIS (Reuters) – France said on Wednesday it wanted to keep the Iran 2015 nuclear deal alive, but warned Tehran that if it were to not keep to its commitments then the question of triggering a mechanism that could lead to sanctions would be on the table.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earlier threatened to resume high level enrichment of uranium if world powers did not keep their promises under the agreement.
Defense Minister Florence Parly told BFM TV/RMC radio that the agreement to control Iran’s nuclear activities had been undermined for several months.
“Today nothing would be worse than Iran, itself, leaving this agreement,” she said.
She said that France, Britain and Germany, the European signatories to the deal, were doing all they could to keep the it alive by putting together initiatives to help Iran’s economy despite tough U.S. sanctions.
However, she warned that there would be consequences and possibly sanctions if Iran breached the deal.
“This is probably one of the things that will be examined. There are no sanctions today from Europe because Iran has so far always respected the commitments it has taken,” she said.
“If these commitments were not respected, naturally this question would be asked.”
Reporting by Sophie Louet; Writing by John Irish; Editing by Sybille de La Hamaide and Alison Williams
FILE PHOTO: French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly attends the questions to the government session at the National Assembly in Paris, France, September 12, 2018. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
