Trump Says ‘No Time Pressure’ on Iran as EU Calls for Restraint

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said there was “absolutely no time pressure” in dealing with Iran as European nations pushed to salvage what remains of the 2015 nuclear accord and avert a slide toward war.

“We have a lot of time,” Trump told reporters at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, after he was asked about his message on Iran. “There’s no rush. They can take their time. There’s absolutely no time pressure.”

U.S. and Iran tensions are high on the agenda in sideline conversations over the next two days in Japan. Iran’s downing of an American drone last week in disputed circumstances brought the Middle East to the cusp of war, with Trump calling off planned retaliatory airstrikes shortly before the attacks were set to begin.

Iran on Thursday appeared to have at least temporarily backed away from its ultimatum on breaching the 2015 nuclear deal, with no word late Thursday that it had exceeded the cap on stockpiles of low-grade uranium. Iran has pushed back against crippling U.S. economic sanctions imposed after the Trump administration unilaterally exited the agreement more than a year ago.

A European Union diplomat said remaining parties to the deal were “scrambling” to find a solution. Whether they had been successful could become clear after a meeting in Vienna on Friday of the commission that governs the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, the diplomat said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, because he said it doesn't sufficiently constrain Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and doesn't prevent the country from engaging in hostile behavior across the Mideast.

European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday called for maximum restraint on Iran, urging the Islamic republic to keep its commitments to the nuclear deal. The EU is committed to the deal as long as Iran upholds it, he told reporters in Osaka.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Osaka at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne

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