EU to work with top Iran diplomat despite US sanctions

Federica Mogherini’s spokesperson says bloc ‘regrets’ decision by Washington to blacklist Mohammad Javad Zarif

By AFP 1 August 2019, 3:09 pm

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European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, from left, wait for the start of prior to a bilateral meeting as part of the closed-door nuclear talks with Iran at a hotel in Vienna, Austria, on July 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union said Thursday it regrets the US decision to impose sanctions against Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and vowed to continue working with him.

The decision Wednesday was the latest blow by US President Donald Trump to the 2015 international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, which Brussels has been trying to salvage.

“We regret this decision,” said Carlos Martin Ruiz De Gordejuela, a spokesman for EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini.

“From our side, we will continue to work with Mr Zarif as Iran’s most senior diplomat and in view of the importance of maintaining diplomatic channels,” Martin said.

The US government announced Wednesday it was freezing any of Zarif’s assets that are in the United States or are controlled by US entities, adding it also will curtail his international travel.

Trump last year pulled out of a 2015 deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama, EU powers, China and Russia aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

The EU has been trying to salvage the deal ever since.

Zarif has been at the heart of complex talks with foreign capitals over Iran’s nuclear power industry, which Tehran says is peaceful, but Washington and regional allies including Israel insist is cover for a secret weapons program.

But a senior Trump administration official said that Zarif’s diplomatic image — bolstered by his fluent English, self-effacing humor and background as a US-educated academic — was false.