EU’s top diplomat in Iran to discuss fragile nuclear deal
The EU’s foreign policy chief was in Tehran to salvage the crumbling nuclear deal at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West.
In his first visit to Tehran as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell met with top Iranian officials to discuss the trajectory of the tenuous Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani assured the top EU diplomat of Tehran’s willingness to maintain cooperation with the 27-nation bloc. “Once the other parties fully honor their obligations, Iran will resume its compliance [with the nuclear deal],” Rouhani said of the JCPOA and a phased reduction of commitments Tehran started last May.
The cuts have technically taken Iran back to its pre-deal uranium enrichment status and have come as a response to the European signatories’ failure to actively fulfill the economic pledges they offered the Islamic Republic under the accord. Those breaches, Rouhani told the 72-year-old Spanish diplomat, were carried out under the JCPOA’s framework. He also noted that Iran will continue to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit its nuclear sites, unless “we face a new set of circumstances.”
Borrell also sat down with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani Feb. 3 to exchange views on the deal as well as the regional security situation. According to Iranian media reports, Borrell expressed “regret” over Europe’s handling of its side of the agreement. “Borrell brought along [nothing but] his regret,” read the front page of ultraconservative daily Javan, which has been a staunch critic of what it views as the Rouhani government’s trust in the European sides.
