By Pooya Stone
In a Joint statement on September 23, 2019, European powers condemned Iran’s involvement in the recent attack against a Saudi oil facility and urged Iran to stop its warmongering policies and arms proliferation.
There was consensus among the participants that Iran carried out a September attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities and called on Tehran to choose talks over further “provocation”.
The statement reads in part: “We condemn in the strongest terms the attacks on oil facilities on Saudi territory on 14 September … It is clear to us that Iran bears responsibility for the attack” on Saudi Arabian oil production. The statement continues, “There is no other plausible explanation.”
“These attacks may have been against Saudi Arabia, but they concern all countries and increase the risk of a major conflict,” they added.
“Iran [ought] to accept negotiation on a long-term framework for its nuclear program as well as on issues related to regional security, including its missiles program and other means of delivery,” the EU leaders said.
Here’s the full statement:
Joint statement from on France, Germany and the UK on Saudi Arabia oil attacks: French Embassy UK (@FranceintheUK) September 23, 2019
For his part, Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, said that the 2015 Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was up for renegotiation.
“If it was a bad deal – and I’m willing to accept that it had many, many defects – then let’s do a better deal,” Johnson told the NBC broadcaster in the US also on Monday, September 23.
On Monday, in addition to Mr. Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron told his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, that, “The path to reduce tensions in the region has become smaller and the moment has come for Iran to help defuse the crisis.”
On Monday, September 23, in a press conference, regarding his administration’s “Maximum pressure campaign” on Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “We have a lot of pressure on them right now — more pressure than they’ve ever had. … A lot of things are happening with respect to Iran. A lot more than you would know. A lot more than the media knows, OK? I’ll be discussing it a little bit tomorrow,” he said, one day before his address to the U.N. General Assembly…
