Paris: The Requirements Imposed by Trump on Europeans Sometimes Sound like Ultimatums

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the "demands" placed on Europeans by US President Donald Trump in connection with the nuclear deal with Iran "are sometimes resembling ultimatums," the France press reported.

"We noticed with interest that President Trump did not break the agreement, though he puts demands that sometimes resemble ultimatums," said Le Drian, who arrived in Brussels for an EU summit, and will visit Iran on March 5th. On January 12, Trump urged Europeans to help redress the "terrible defects" of the Iranian nuclear agreement of 2015 and said otherwise the United States would once again impose sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program and thus de facto are withdrawing from the agreement concluded in Vienna by the other great powers - China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom - with Iran.

So far, the three European countries that signed the deal and the first EU diplomat, Federica Mogherini, charged with monitoring its due diligence, have not revealed how they will respond to Trump, who insists on an additional agreement by May 12 and a ban on Iran to develop ballistic missiles. The existing agreement is an important element of the fight against non-proliferation and must be preserved. At the same time, "Iran does not respect" the UN resolution limiting its capabilities to produce ballistic missiles, the French minister noted. At the EU summit, "we will have the opportunity to reiterate our concern about today's attempts by Iran to destabilize the region, whether Yemen, Lebanon or Syria," said Le Drian.