UN Chief Open to 'Building' Upon Iran Nuclear Agreement

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres continues to actively support the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran but is amenable to enhancements, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a press briefing on Monday.

"The secretary-general strongly supports the JCPOA as an important diplomatic achievement and is also open on building on the JCPOA," Dujarric told reporters. "The secretary-general has made his views known both publicly and privately… We believe the JCPOA contributes to regional peace and security."

Guterres' statement comes after the foreign ministers of Germany, the United Kingdom and France have issued a joint statement saying that their countries will stay in the JCPOA even if the United States pulls out of it.

READ MORE: US Rejecting JCPOA 'Doesn’t Mean Other Countries Will Pull Out' — Professor

The Trump administration has announced that it is reassessing whether to pull the United States out of the JCPOA which was signed by Iran with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany and the European Union on July 14, 2015.

The US president has been criticizing the JCPOA, more widely known as the Iran nuclear deal, which was negotiated by his predecessor then-President Barack Obama, ever since his election campaign. Trump threatened to withdraw Washington from the agreement if the "flaws" in it are not fixed. The United States is expected to announce its decision on the agreement before the May 12 deadline.