Paris, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The West must ensure the Iran 2015 nuclear deal succeeds before trying to negotiate other issues, a senior Iranian official said in a rare public suggestion Tehran could discuss matters such as its regional activities or missile program with world powers. “Now they ask Iran to enter discussions on other issues. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told a conference in Paris on February 8 that key to future negotiations on matters such as Tehran's regional activities and its missile program is to honor the terms of the nuclear accord, from which the United States has threatened to withdraw. It was not immediately clear whether Araqchi’s suggestion was in complete alignment with powerful hardliners in the Islamic Republic’s factionalised governing institutions who are intensely suspicious of any talks with the West. He added that U.S. President Donald Trump's policies toward Iran were "destructive" and violated the terms of the nuclear deal with six world powers – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia. With U.S. President Donald Trump warning of a last chance for "the worst deal ever negotiated", Britain, France and Germany are working on a plan to satisfy him by addressing Iran's ballistic missile tests and its regional influence while preserving the 2015 accord. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a Euromoney conference in Paris, Araqchi said there was no link between its influence in the Middle East region and the accord, under which Iran restricted its production of enriched uranium - a potential source of nuclear bombs as well as civilian energy - in exchange for a removal of international sanctions. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised European signatories of the deal for trying to keep it alive, but has demanded tangible reaction if the United States pulls out of the accord. The Islamic Republic says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes and that it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it, but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out. Araqchi dismissed Western assertions that Iran’s regional activities are destabilising. Araqchi rejected claims that Tehran’s activities were destabilizing the region and accused the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia of fomenting tensions in the Middle East. “We have always fought against terrorism. Iran has always played a key role in bringing stability and peace to the region...There is no link between the deal and our role in the region," he said. There is no link between the (nuclear) deal and our role in the region,” Araqchi, who was also a senior negotiator in the Iran nuclear talks, told Reuters. But U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 12 vowed to restore U.S. sanctions unless France, Britain and Germany change what he calls the “worst deal ever” to his liking, effectively putting it on life support until mid-May. Britain's minister for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, said at the same Paris conference that European powers were determined to save the agreement and to work to address U.S. concerns, but he warned that Iran also needs to mitigate Western concerns over its regional activities. “We and our European partners are absolutely clear. We want the deal to succeed,” Burt said. “We don’t want to see the JCPOA (deal with Iran) go down and are working with our European partners to mitigate concerns the United States may have to ensure it continues.”

Negotiations between Europeans and the U.S. officials to meet Trump’s conditions are ongoing. “It could be revived or put back, but only if it is clear that the U.S. is putting back sanctions with extraterritorial sanctions and that they are being applied. The United States suspended sanctions against Iran following the 2015 nuclear agreement, which provided Tehran with relief from financial sanctions in return for limits on Tehran's nuclear program. "Iran also needs to avoid taking actions which threaten regional security," Burt said specifically pointing to claims that Tehran has supplied ballistic missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen. Iran backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s almost seven-year-old civil war, Shi‘ite Muslim militias in Iraq, Houthi rebels in Yemen and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. “Iran has always played a key role in establishing peace, restoring security and fighting against terrorism across the region,” Araqchi said. “Policies of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States have led to crises and wars in the Middle East.”
A senior European External Action Service official says that the European Union, in order to protect its companies doing business with Iran, could implement "blocking regulations" based on a legal framework set up in 1996 for E.U. trade with Cuba, should the United States pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal and restore its sanctions.