PM Johnson urges Iranian President Rouhani to ‘end hostilities’
Boris Johnson told his Iranian counterpart there must be “an end to hostilities” during a phone call between the pair this morning.
The Prime Minister spoke with Hassan Rouhani for around 20 minutes, to discuss the aftermath of the US killing of Qasem Soleimani late last week.
“The Prime Minister underlined the UK’s continued commitment to the JCPoA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and to ongoing dialogue to avoid nuclear proliferation and reduce tensions,” the PM’s spokesman told reporters.
Johnson believes the joint agreement struck in 2015 is “the best arrangement available to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons”, despite Donald Trump calling on the UK to “break away” from it, the spokesman added.
US President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the JCPoA in 2018, yesterday criticised it again as “very defective”, saying it gave Iran “a clear and quick path to nuclear breakout”.
“The time has come for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China to recognise this reality. They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPoA. And we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place.”
This morning foreign secretary Dominic Raab said: “We’ve reached a point where non-compliance has been so acute in the most recent steps taken by Iran, that obviously we’re going to be looking very hard at what should happen next.”
Raab, who was in the US for talks with his counterpart Mike Pompeo, stressed the UK was “absolutely committed, as our American and European partners are, to avoiding Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, and we’ve obviously been committed to the JCPoA.”
Main image: Getty