On Sunday, 5 January, Iran announced that it will no longer limit itself to restrictions of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), however the EU has insisted that the deal is not dead. Joseph Borrell, the EU's chief diplomat believes that it is the venue to promote EU's interests with the bloc's Russian and Chinese partners.

The JCPOA "today more important than ever because it is the only place where we can sit together with the Russians and Chinese to talk on a multilateral basis about many risks that we are facing," says Borrell. "It is one of the most important tools of non-proliferation and regional security."

The Spaniard has convened an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers this Friday, 10 January, "to discuss what the European Union can do in the short, medium and long-term to help stabilise the region."
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"We have to try to be more coherent at the international level and especially in these current circumstances," admitted European Council president Charles Michel. "It's not my opinion to consider that the European Union will be out of the game. We have to be in the game and to promote and defend our interests."

"This could be the first step toward the end of this agreement, which would be a great loss -- and so we will weigh things up very, very responsibly," [German Foreign Minister Heiko] Maas told Deutschlandfunk radio.

archived Comish High Rep
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