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Europeans rebuff Trump call to abandon nuclear deal amid growing rift on Iran

The United States and Europe continue to be divided on Iran, with points of contention including how to react to the Iran protests and how the United States has doubled down on pressure after the Soleimani killing.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he departs for travel to New Orleans, Louisiana from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 13, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis - RC29FE97O1SV

Leaders of three European powers on Sunday expressed continued support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, rebuffing an explicit call by President Donald Trump last week to abandon the troubled accord. The Europeans signaled that they could soon invoke a dispute resolution mechanism under the accord after a series of steps by Iran to reduce its commitments to the deal to protest the resumption of harsh economic sanctions imposed after the Trump administration quit the deal in 2018.

The European rejection of the American presidential demand marked the latest sign of a deepening transatlantic rift on Iran, as European hopes that it could broker some sort of US-Iran detente to get through the 2020 US election year without a new Middle East conflict fade. This has been exacerbated by differing Trump administration and European assessments of recent protests in Iran, including those expressing anger at the government in Tehran in the wake of Iran's admission that it accidentally shot down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752, killing all 176 people aboard.

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