Small Wars Journal

European Leaders Join U.S. in Blaming Iran for Saudi Oil Attacks, Urge New Deal

Tue, 09/24/2019 - 12:48am

European Leaders Join U.S. in Blaming Iran for Saudi Oil Attacks, Urge New Deal by Laurence Norman and Michael R. Gordon – Wall Street Journal

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany joined the U.S. in blaming Iran for this month’s attacks on Saudi Arabia and said the time had come for Tehran to start talks on a new, long-term agreement dealing with its nuclear, regional and missile activities.

In a joint statement on Monday, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, along with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, said they continue to support the 2015 nuclear deal but said the time has come for Iran to start talks on a longer-term, more comprehensive agreement, as Washington has urged.

While the statement marks a significant shift on Iran by Europe’s powers, those nations are still far from endorsing all of Washington's demands for a new agreement. The statement also didn’t suggest that Europe is prepared to follow Washington in tightening economic pressure on Iran…

Read on.