WARSAW: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday that working groups on fixing what the US sees as flaws in the Iranian nuclear deal have already begun to meet, trying to determine the scope of what is needed and how much Iran needs to be engaged in it.

Tillerson, ending a week-long European trip in Warsaw, said that he had secured support from Britain, France and Germany — all parties to the 2015 agreement — to work on the deal that President Donald Trump has warned he will walk away from unless changes are made.

“It’s always darkest before the dawn,” Tillerson told journalists. “The working groups have already begun to meet on efforts to agree principles, what is the scope of what we attempt to address and also how much we engage Iran on discussions to address these issues,” he said. The nuclear deal gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in return for curbs on its atomic programme.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2018