UK reiterates support for Iran nuclear deal

The latest presentation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows the necessity of implementing a deal on Iran’s nuclear capability, British foreign secretary said Tuesday.

Boris Johnson said Netanyahu’s presentation on Iran’s past research into nuclear weapons technology “underlines the importance of keeping the Iran nuclear deal’s constraints on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions”.

Pointing out that the deal with Iran “is not based on trust about Iran’s intentions”, but "on tough verification", Johnson said the deal included “measures that allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency unprecedented access to Iran’s nuclear programme”.

Netanyahu claimed that Israeli intelligence services had obtained 55,000 pages of Iranian documents revealing how Tehran allegedly lied to the world after signing a landmark deal in 2015 to curb its nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has dismissed the Israeli claims about its nuclear program as “baseless”.

“The fact that Iran conducted sensitive research in secret until 2003 shows why we need the intrusive inspections allowed by the Iran nuclear deal today,” Johnson said.

“The verification provisions in the Iran nuclear deal would make it harder for Iran to restart any such research.

“That is another good reason for keeping the deal while building on it in order to take account of the legitimate concerns of the US and our other allies,” he added.

Johnson’s statement followed an agreement by the U.K., France and Germany, which said the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran is the “best way” of stopping Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

British, French and German leaders “discussed the importance of the Iran nuclear deal as the best way of neutralizing the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, agreeing that our priority as an international community remained preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon,” according to a statement released following phone calls of Prime Minister Theresa May with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The weekend statement said the leaders were also “committed to continue working closely together and with the U.S. on how to tackle the range of challenges that Iran poses -- including those issues that a new deal might cover.”

In July 2015, the EU and the P5 1 group of countries — China, Germany, France, Russia, the U.K. and U.S. — signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, with Tehran.

The accord stipulated a gradual lifting of anti-Iranian sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program and allowing inspections to ensure that the nature of the program is peaceful.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce a decision on May 12 whether or not the U.S. will pull out of the nuclear deal.