Deal traps EU between Iran and US

BRUSSELS: As the divide widens between the US and Iran over the 2015 nuclear deal, the European Union finds itself trapped between them, with no easy or quick way to respond to its dilemma.
The Europeans have been trying, without much success, to come up with a way to compensate for the US sanctions and protect trade with Iran.
But on Wednesday, President Hassan Rouhani warned that Iran could resume high-level uranium enrichment if the remaining signatories - Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia - did not make good, in the next 60 days, on promises to shield economy from US penalties.
Germany called on Iran to uphold its commitment and pledged to do the same. "Germany expects complete implementation of the agreement from Iran," Steffen Seibert, spokesman for the chancellor , said. France's defence minister Florence Parly said that France wanted to keep the nuclear deal alive but warned Iran that it could face more sanctions if it did not honour its part of the deal.
The Europeans are divided, with some countries unwilling to confront Trump on an issue "that is such a priority for the US administration," Pierre Vimont, the former executive secretary-general of the European External Action Service, the EU's foreign affairs agency, said.
"What kind of initiative is there to get out of this?" Vimont asked. "I don't see one."