The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday he had extended the time available to discuss ways to save the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran under a dispute mechanism triggered by France, Germany and Britain.

“There is agreement that more time is needed due to the complexity of the issues involved. The timeline is therefore extended,” he said in a statement.

On January 14 Borrell was notified by Paris, London and Berlin that they had triggered the dispute mechanism, in theory starting a 15-day process to resolve issues with Iran. However, in practice it is not clear when the 15-day period should start because Iran has not formally recognized the consultation process, officials have said.

Borrell said the joint commission that regulates the Iran nuclear deal will meet in February but did not give a date.

The three European powers triggered the mechanism over Iran’s ongoing violations of the deal.

“We do not accept the argument that Iran is entitled to reduce compliance with the JCPOA (nuclear deal),” they explained, saying they had no choice but to trigger the process that could eventually lead to UN sanctions.

“Instead of reversing course, Iran has chosen to further reduce compliance.”

Iran had taken a further step back from its commitments to the pact by announcing on Jan. 6 that it would scrap limits on enriching uranium, though it said it would continue cooperating with the UN nuclear watchdog.

In a bid to keep the door open for diplomacy, the three said they were not joining the United States campaign to implement maximum pressure against Iran.

Under the deal brokered in 2015, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran agreed with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, to restrict its nuclear program.

But in 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and re-imposed strict sanctions on Iran. European powers have repeatedly said they still support the deal.

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Araghchi said, “The dispute mechanism does not mean referring Iran’s case to the Security Council. What Europe has done is triggering the dispute mechanism according to article 3. We believe that Europe cannot trigger this mechanism because we have triggered it and finished it”.

France, Britain, and Germany confirmed on January 14 that they had triggered the dispute mechanism in the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, but said they were not joining the United States campaign to exert maximum pressure on Tehran.

Russia has announced that it sees no grounds to trigger the dispute mechanism, saying the activation of this mechanism may make it impossible to return to the implementation of the agreement.

China has also expressed regret over the decision, saying it will not help solve the issues or ease current tensions.

“Russia and China also agree with us and we believe that Europe cannot use this article,” Araghchi said. “Reducing our commitments was a compensatory measure and Europe cannot take a compensatory measure against our move.”

He said nothing has happened yet, but added that the Islamic Republic will make appropriate decisions in due time.

The JCPOA was struck between Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members — the United States, Russia, China, France, and the UK — as well as Germany and the European Union.

The accord came under increasing strain ever since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from it in May 2018 and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against Iran despite worldwide objections.

On May 8, exactly one year after the U.S. abandoned the deal, Tehran announced that its “strategic patience” is over and began to partially reduce its commitments to the agreement at bi-monthly steps.

Eventually, in its fifth and final step on January 5, Iran suspended all limits under the JCPOA.

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