No reason to scrap Iran nuclear deal: Germany

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas addresses a news conference during his visit to the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany doesn't see any reason to scrap the nuclear deal reached between Iran and six powers in 2015 and would do everything possible to uphold it, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday.

"We continue to believe that this agreement makes the world safer and without this agreement the world would be less safe," Maas said at a joint news conference with his visiting French counterpart.

"We fear a failure would result in an escalation," Maas said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of the Iran deal by not extending sanctions waivers when they expire on May 12, unless European signatories of the accord fix what he calls its "flaws".

(Reporting by Michelle Martin and Joseph Nasr; Editing by Michael Nienaber)