European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said that the EU is working with the rest of the international community to preserve the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“We are working, as a union of 28 member states and with the rest of the international community, to preserve a nuclear agreement that has so far been implemented in full, as certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 13 consecutive reports,” Livemint quoted her as saying in an interview published on Tuesday.
“Part of this work requires us to guarantee that firms wanting to do legitimate business with Iran are allowed to do so. This is what we are working on right now: tools that will assist, protect, and reassure economic actors pursuing legitimate business with Iran,” she said.
President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. unilaterally from the 2015 nuclear deal in May and ordered sanctions against Iran. The first round of sanctions went into force on August 6 and the second round, which targets Iran’s oil exports and banks, were snapped back on November 4.
Trump has threatened that he will punish Europeans if they have economic interaction with Iran.
Mogherini said, “We Europeans cannot accept that a foreign power — even our closest friend and ally — makes decisions over our legitimate trade with another country. This is a basic element of sovereignty, and it is only natural that this reflection takes place, not only in Europe but in other parts of the world, too.”
