The signatories of the nuclear agreement with Iran await Joe Biden  

The foreign affairs ministers of Europe, China, Russia and Iran met on Monday by video conference to try to convey their commitment to "preserve the agreement". No preconditions or changes, no need to alter what was signed in 2015, in anticipation of the new US Administration, while Iran is moving further and further away from its nuclear commitments.   

The signatories to the nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran said on Monday that they "want to respond positively" to the "prospect of a return of the United States" around the table, with the Europeans urging Iran not to "compromise" the future.  

Joe Biden has pledged to return to the agreement, from which the US withdrew in 2018. With a month to go before Biden arrives at the White House, this step is key to supporting him in his plan to return to an agreement signed by Barack Obama and from which Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew. Since then Washington has re-established the sanctions on the companies that negotiate with Teheran and, in return, Iran has once again enriched uranium beyond what the pact signed in 2015 allows.   

According to the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Islamic Republic has reserves of enriched uranium amounting to 2,449 kg, whereas the treaty limits them to 300 kg. 

"Ministers agreed to continue the dialogue (...) and noted the prospect of a return by the United States, underlining their readiness to respond positively in a joint effort", according to a joint communiqué. The Iranian dossier has been further disrupted since the assassination at the end of November of an Iranian nuclear physicist, Mohsen Fajrizadeh.  

Following this attack attributed to Israel, Tehran's toughest wing has promised retaliation, which will further weaken the agreement reached in Vienna in 2015. At the beginning of December, Paris, London and Berlin expressed their "deep concern" about the installation of three new advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges in Natanz (central Iran).  

Under the terms of the Iranian nuclear agreement signed in 2015 in Vienna (JCPOA), Paris, Berlin and London call on Tehran not to "jeopardise the important opportunity to return to diplomacy represented by the arrival of the new American Administration" under the presidency of Joe Biden, who has expressed his willingness to reintegrate the United States into the Vienna Agreement.  

The three countries were also alarmed by the Iranian parliament's approval of a controversial law on the nuclear issue which, if enacted, would probably mean the death of the agreement. The law calls on the government to significantly strengthen the nuclear programme and end International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. 

"I have made it clear that Iran must not implement the recently announced extensions to its nuclear programme," the British Foreign Secretary wrote on Monday on Twitter. "Such a move would jeopardise the opportunities for progress we hope to see in 2021," added Dominic Raab.  

His German counterpart Heiko Maas also called for "not missing the last chance" for a new president to take office in Washington through "tactical manoeuvres". The Iranian president said on Thursday that he was confident that US president-elect Joe Biden would resume US commitments under the agreement from which Donald Trump has withdrawn from the United States.  

"I have no doubt that the perseverance of the Iranian people over the past three years will force the new US Administration to give in and resume its commitments," Hassan Rohani said on television. "The sanctions will then be lifted," he added. Biden, who is due to arrive at the White House on 20 January, confirmed his willingness to return to the Vienna Agreement.  

Ministers underlined the important role of the IAEA as the only impartial and independent international organisation mandated by the UN Security Council to monitor and verify compliance with nuclear non-proliferation commitments under the JCPOA. Ministers recalled that the JCPOA, as endorsed by the UN Security Council, remains a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and a significant achievement of multilateral diplomacy contributing to regional and international security.