Merkel, Macron, Johnson Urge Iran Not To Flout Nuclear Deal

The leaders of Germany, France and Britain on Sunday urged Iran to drop measures that go against the 2015 nuclear deal, after Tehran announced it would no longer abide by a limit on enrichment. "We call on Iran to withdraw all measures that are not in line with the nuclear agreement," German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and British PM Boris Johnson said in a joint statement.

Iran on Sunday announced that it will no longer abide by the 2015 Nuclear deal. According to the 2015 Nuclear Deal, which is officially called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and five permanent members of the security council plus Germany, Iran had agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium. It also was required to cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for next 13 years.

With tensions rising following the US drone strike at Baghdad airport that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and top Iraqi military figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the European leaders also urged Iran to refrain from taking "further violent actions or support for them."

“It is crucial now to de-escalate. We call on all the players involved to show utmost restraint and responsibility." The European leaders also pleaded with the parties to not jeopardise a battle against IS jihadists, after the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution demanding that thousands of US troops be ousted.

"Preserving the (anti-IS) coalition is of great importance in this context. We call on the Iraqi authorities to continue to provide the coalition with the necessary support," they said.

On Saturday, in the aftermath of Soleimani’s killing, Trump warned Iran that the US has identified 52 possible targets in the country and will hit it harder than ever before if Tehran, which has vowed “severe revenge”, carries out any attack against America to avenge the killing of top military commander Qasem Soleimani.

Soleimani, 62, the head of Iran’s elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional security apparatus, was killed when a US drone fired missiles into a convoy that was leaving the Baghdad International Airport early on Friday. The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.