The European Union's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Thursday insisted the Iran nuclear deal "is working", as US President Donald Trump mulls reimposing sanctions on Tehran.

"The deal is working, it is delivering on its main goal which means keeping the Iranian nuclear programme in check and under close surveillance," Mogherini said after talks in Brussels with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his British, French and German counterparts.

Senior officials have told AFP they "expect" Trump to extend waivers on sanctions against Iran on Friday to keep the US in line with the 2015 deal, which the president has repeatedly lambasted.

The European Union and Britain, Germany and France -- which all played a key role in the hard-fought accord -- once again closed ranks to back the deal, which curbed Iran's nuclear ambitions in return for the relaxing of punishing sanctions.

Mogherini said it was vital to preserve an agreement that is "making the world safer and that is preventing a potential nuclear arms race in the region".

While hawks in Washington have called for the agreement to be scrapped, British foreign minister Boris Johnson said that so far no-one has come up with a better alternative.

"We greatly value the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran, we think it is a considerable diplomatic accomplishment, it's a way of stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and Iran is in compliance with this agreement according to the International Atomic Energy Agency," Johnson said.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Europe wanted to protect the deal "against every possible undermining decision".

"We know that it's absolutely necessary to have the signal that it's possible by diplomatic approaches to prevent the development of nuclear weapons, in a time when other parts of the world are discussing how to get nuclear weapons into force," Gabriel said.

"It would send a very dangerous signal to the rest of the world if the only agreement that prevents the proliferation of nuclear weapons would be negatively affected."

Trump meets top aides to decide on Iran sanctions
Washington (AFP) Jan 11, 2018 - US President Donald Trump convened his top national security advisers Thursday to decide whether to re-impose sanctions on Iran at the risk of sinking the 2015 nuclear deal.

State Department officials said Trump was expected to make a decision at the meeting, but that it was not clear whether it would be announced later Thursday or on Friday.

"The president still strongly believes this is one of the worst deals of all time," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

"One of the single greatest flaws is its restrictions leave Iran free ... to openly develop their nuclear program and rapidly achieve a nuclear weapons breakout capability.

"Obviously, we see a big problem with that," she said. "The administration is continuing to work with Congress and with our allies to address those flaws."

Sanders did not say when an announcement would be made, but Assistant Secretary of State Steve Goldstein said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was at the White House and that a decision was imminent.

"The secretary has been at the White House almost every day. He was there yesterday for many, many hours. The decision meeting is this afternoon," he told reporters.

"From that, the decision will be made. I'm not sure when the announcement will be made, whether it will be made tonight or whether it will be tomorrow," he said.

A senior State Department official, speaking anonymously to give more detail, said the meeting was expected to end at 3:45 pm (1845 GMT) and an announcement then to be made within a few hours.

"I suppose there's always a possibility that it could go long and the timeframe could be tomorrow, but it is possible that the decision will come out tonight," the senior official said.

Trump has already declared that he think the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers in no longer in the United States' national interest.

But he has continued to follow the example of his predecessor Barack Obama in regularly signing sanctions waivers so that US economic measures against Tehran do not "snap back."

The deadlines for a number of these waivers to be renewed will fall over the coming week, and Trump is obliged to decide whether or not to maintain sanctions relief.

If he does allow the sanctions to go back into effect, Iran will accuse the United States of breaking the deal, under which Tehran agreed to various controls on its nuclear program.

European capitals will also be dismayed, having pressed Washington to accept that the deal was an international agreement and that Iran has abided by its terms.

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A Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen said a ballistic missile intercepted over southern Saudi Arabia on Friday served as proof Iran supported the Shiite Huthi rebels. "This hostile act by the Iran-backed Huthis proves the Iranian regime remains implicated in supporting the armed Huthis," the kingdom's state news agency SPA quoted coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki as saying. ... read more

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