EU Top Diplomat in Tehran to De-Escalate Tensions
IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK
TEHRAN – Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell yesterday held talks in the Iranian capital on a mission aimed at lowering tensions over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.
Borrell’s trip, his first to Iran since taking office, follows a spike in tensions between arch foes Washington and Tehran following the January 3 assassination in Baghdad of a top Iranian general in a U.S. drone strike.
The two-day visit opened with a meeting with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, ahead of talks with President Hassan Rouhani and parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and a group of world powers has been crumbling since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018, and Washington has since stepped up sanctions and a campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran.
Borrell’s mission aims “to de-escalate tensions and seek opportunities for political solutions to the current crisis,” said the office of the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
The trip will allow Borrell “to convey the EU’s strong commitment to preserve” the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and to discuss cooperation between the EU and Iran, his office said.
Zarif and Borrell resumed the second round of talks on issues of mutual interests in Tehran yesterday afternoon.
The landmark nuclear deal struck in Vienna between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, the U.S. and Russia – plus Germany, offered Tehran a partial reprieve from crippling international sanctions.
In exchange, Iran agreed to drastically reduce its nuclear activities and submit to a tailor-made inspection regime by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The European measure could lead to the restoration of anti-Iran sanctions, which had been lifted by the JCPOA.
In an interview with German weekly news magazine, Der Spiegel, Zarif said last month, “It’s a disaster for Europe to be so subservient to the US. Anybody who accepts unilateralism is helping it.”
