Heiko Maas takes the Iranian government into account. The Federal Foreign Minister is threatening to revive a procedure that could once again lead to European economic sanctions because of Tehran's violations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (JCPOA).
"We want to get the JCPOA - but then Iran must finally return to its obligations and comply with them," said the SPD politician on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. "Otherwise, we will reserve all the mechanisms specified in the agreement."
By mentioning the mechanisms, Mr Maas was obviously referring to a possible start of the dispute settlement procedure under Article 36 of the Atomic Energy Agreement. If this happens once again and leads to no success, the EU sanctions against Iran would probably have to be reintroduced. Maas announced that he would meet with his French and British colleagues on Monday afternoon in Paris "to discuss what happens next".
The dispute settlement mechanism mentioned by Maas provides for a multi-stage procedure with numerous deadlines. It may be activated if one Party believes that provisions of the Agreement are being violated by the other. This would be a very long process, probably over several months. Without agreement with Iran, however, it could ultimately lead to the reintroduction of UN sanctions.
Iran had announced over the weekend to have resumed the uranium enrichment in the underground facility Fordo. "We are very concerned that there is more uranium enrichment that Iran has not only announced, but is also carrying out," Maas said.
Iran has for some time been demonstratively violating the key requirements of the Iranian nuclear bomb prevention agreement. The government in Tehran justifies the steps by promising to lift its nuclear program by lifting economic isolation, but that is not possible because of US sanctions.
The Europeans, however, do not want to accept this argument. They point out that they continue to abide by the agreement and seek to ensure that EU companies can maintain business relations with Iran.
