EU foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on Friday at Brussels in an attempt to chalk out way to avert confrontation between Washington and Tehran. On the sidelines of the meeting, the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said that if Iran keeps on violating the 2015 nuclear deal, then it could develop nuclear weapons in one to two years. On Monday, Iran announced that it was scrapping the limit set on uranium enrichment, under the agreement.
What did the French Foreign Minister say?
On the sidelines of EU Foreign Minister's meeting on the issue of U.S.-Iran hostility, at Brussels, the French Finance Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on RTL radio: "If they continue with unravelling the Vienna agreement, then yes, within a fairly short period of time, between one and two years, they could have access to a nuclear weapon, which is not an option", France24 reported.
What is Vienna Agreement?
Vienna Agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or more commonly as Iran Nuclear Deal, was signed in the Austrian capital Vienna, between Iran and P5 nations (the five permanent members of United Nations Security Council)+Germany and the European Union (EU), in 2015. It put restrictions on Iran's nuclear programme, in exchange of relief from international sanctions.
U.S.A.-Iran relations deteriorated after U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal on May 8, 2018, and imposed sanctions which crippled the Iranian economy. In July, last year, Iran announced it had enriched uranium, beyond the limit set under the JCPOA. It also warned the European nations that it would exceed the limit further, every 60 days, if it won't do anything to salvage the accord.
United States assassinated top Iranian military commander, General Qassem Soleimani, last week at Baghdad International Airport. On Monday, Iran announced that it was ending its commitment to limit enrichment of uranium as part of the nuclear deal, though it hasn't officially withdrawn from it. It hasn't expelled the inspectors of the international nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who can continue their inspection, thus leaving some door for negotiations.
Interestingly, "IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!", Donald Trump tweeted on January 6.
