France’s foreign ministry on Tuesday told a visiting senior Iranian envoy that Tehran had to return to compliance to the nuclear deal and take the necessary steps to ensure the de-escalation of tensions in the Gulf, Reuters reported.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
“(This meeting) served to remind the Iranian president’s envoy that we expect Iran to return quickly in accordance with its commitments under the Vienna Agreement and to take the necessary steps to engage in an essential de-escalation,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement following the meeting.
US President Donald Trump withdrew last May from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and later imposed two rounds of sanctions on Iran, the latest of which went into effect in November of 2018.
The European signatories to the 2015 deal did not agree with Trump’s decision to leave the agreement and vowed to help Iran evade the economic sanctions imposed by the US, shielding companies doing business with the rogue state in an effort to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
Several weeks ago, Iran met in Vienna with European, Russian and Chinese officials to discuss ways to save the 2015 nuclear following the US withdrawal.
Iran’s envoy to the meeting in Vienna said that European countries had offered too little to persuade Tehran to back off from its plans to breach limits imposed by the deal.
Aragchi said during the visit to Paris that Iran will secure the Strait of Hormuz and not allow any disturbance in shipping in the key oil transport waterway.
“Iran will use its best efforts to secure the region, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, and will not allow any disturbance in shipping in this sensitive area,” he told French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency.
His comments came amid ongoing tensions in the Persian Gulf. On Friday, Iran seized a British oil tanker in the Gulf.
The incident came a week after British forces captured an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar. Iran, however, insisted their seizure of the British tanker was not in retaliation for the British seizure.