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EU Contacts Trump Camp over Iran Deal ‘Misunderstanding’ | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump waves to supporters as he makes an appearance in the lobby at Trump Tower in New York, U.S., January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar


London- The European Union has informally contacted the team of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to clarify “misunderstanding” about the Iran nuclear deal which he has threatened to scrap, an EU diplomatic source has said.

The source, who asked not to be named, said the contacts were made to explain the value of the accord.

“Some informal outreach was done to the new U.S. administration to explain the added value of the deal,” the source said.

“There has been a lot of misunderstanding out there … It is a multilateral agreement; if one side steps away from it, the others can do the same.”

The source told Agence France Presse that the EU was determined to stick with the accord and was “working very much hand in hand with China and Russia on this.”

“We see this deal as very important, as having averted a potential major crisis in a region running high with tensions,” the source added.

Under the hard-won accord, Tehran agreed to rein in its nuclear program in return for an easing of punishing Western economic sanctions.

Trump’s pick for U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, who is South Carolina Governor, did not advocate backing out of the nuclear agreement with Iran, although she said it should be closely reviewed.

She made her remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

U.S. President Barack Obama has hailed the accord as one of his major achievements, preventing Iran getting nuclear weapons without having to go to war.

EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini on Monday insisted the bloc would stand by the accord — which she helped negotiate — because it showed that diplomacy worked and served Europe’s security needs.

Trump has blasted the agreement as “one of the dumbest deals I have ever seen” and warned it will not stop Tehran getting atomic weapons.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday there was no chance of Iran renegotiating the nuclear deal with world powers if Trump demands it.

“The nuclear deal is finished, it has been approved by the U.N. Security Council and has become an international document. It is a multilateral accord and there is no sense in renegotiating it,” said Rouhani at a news conference a year on from the deal coming into force.

“Trump, the president-elect, has made various statements that the nuclear deal does not satisfy him, that it was not a good deal or even that it was the worst deal ever,” said Rouhani.

“These are mostly slogans, and I don’t think that when he enters the White House, something will happen,” he added.