A senior German diplomat headed Thursday to Tehran to press Iran to continue to respect the landmark nuclear deal, despite the withdrawal of the U.S. and increasing pressure from Washington.
Tensions have soared as Washington earlier this month sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region over intelligence pointing to a new threat from Iran.
In Berlin, the Foreign Ministry said Political Director Jens Ploetner was to hold talks with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday to try salvage the nuclear deal concluded in 2015 in Vienna. The accord has steadily unraveled since the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the deal, reimposed and escalated sanctions on Tehran last year.
The German envoy's visit also follows Iran's declaration earlier this month that the remaining signatories to the deal – Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia – have two months to develop a plan to shield Iran from U.S. sanctions.
"The situation in the Persian Gulf and the region, and the situation surrounding the Vienna nuclear agreement is extremely serious," the German Foreign Ministry said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "There is a real risk of escalation – including due to misunderstandings or an incident. In this situation, the dialogue is very important."
With Iran's 60-day deadline, the ministry said there is still a "window for diplomacy to persuade Iran to continue its full compliance" and said that Germany remains in close contact with other nations that have been struggling to keep the deal alive.
The accord, intended to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, promised economic incentives in exchange for restrictions on Tehran's nuclear activities. Despite efforts so far by others to keep the deal from collapsing, Iran's economy has been struggling and its currency has plummeted after the reimposition of U.S. sanctions.
On Monday, Iran announced that it had quadrupled its production capacity of low-enriched uranium. Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67% limit set under the nuclear deal, making it usable for a power plant but far below what's needed for an atomic weapon.
But by increasing production, Iran will likely exceed the stockpile limitations set by the nuclear accord, which would escalate the situation further.
Several incidents have added to the crisis, including the sabotage of the oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, as well as a rocket that landed near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The U.S. has blamed Iran for both incidents without publicly offering evidence. America has also evacuated nonessential diplomatic staff from Iraq amid the tensions.
Also, Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen have targeted a Saudi pipeline and sent a bomb-laden drone to target a Saudi airport with a military base on Tuesday.
