Britain, France and Germany (E3) agreed with the US on condemning Iran’s involvement on Saudi oil field attacks and called Iran for discussing the nuclear program and security issues in the Gulf.

Photo: Aljazeera

The E3 was on the side with the US on accusing Iran of participating in the Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities attacks on September 14 after the meeting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sideline of 74th session of UN General Assembly (UNGA).

They asserted “It is clear to us that Iran bears responsibility for this attack. There is no other plausible explanation. We support ongoing investigations to establish further details” and suggested that Iran "refrain from choosing provocation and escalation".

The E3 also called Iran for nuclear and regional security issues dialogues “The time has come for Iran 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”.

Boris Johnson had even shared that “Let's do a better deal. I think there's one guy who can do a better deal... and that is the president of the United States. I hope there will be a Trump deal”.

French President Emanuel Macron also expressed his hope for a new deal "I'm not married to the JCPOA. It has to be said that the two main players are in the process of deciding to leave it. One has left, the other is telling us that they will leave".

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and French President Emmanuel Macron at UNGA (photo: Aljazeera)

However, Iran had denied negotiating new nuclear deal with the world powers and blamed the E3 for not complying their commitments in the 2015 nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in Twitter “E3’s paralysis in fulfilling their obligations w/o US permission has been clear since May 2018 ... No new deal before compliance w/ current one”.

He had also reacted to the E3’s accusation "If Iran was behind this attack, nothing would be left of this refinery”.

Even though the meeting between the US and Iran was expected to held during the UNGA’s meeting, the Saudi incident stopped two countries’ plan.

Zarif confirmed that “we haven’t received any requests this time, yet, for a meeting and we have made it clear a request alone will not do the job” and criticized Trump “closed the door to negotiations” by the recent sanctions on Iran’s central bank.

He added "I know that President Trump did not want to do that. I know he must have been misinformed” and insisted "We are committed to continuing our diplomatic efforts to create conditions and facilitate dialogue with all relevant partners interested in de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East”.

“A negotiation has to be for a reason, for an outcome, not just for a handshake”, said Zarif.

Moreover, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday (September 23) “the world is peace, stability, also we want to tell the world that the situation in the Persian Gulf is very sensitive”, as IRNA quoted

After the new steps of E3 and Iran, a senior Gulf official urged Gulf countries, the US, the E3 and other countries for a “collective diplomacy” to ease the tension.

The official presented his opinion “the conversation should no longer be about the JCPOA (nuclear deal) but Iran’s missile program and its regional misbehavior, which are as important if not more important - they have the potential to hold the region to ransom”.

Reuters, Aljazeera ( Van Nguyen )