EU backs US-Iran talks but says nuclear deal must stay

The EU’s diplomatic chief says the bloc will support talks between the US and Tehran, but only if the current nuclear deal with Iran is preserved.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini gives a cautious welcome to the idea of negotiations, after US President Donald Trump said Monday he was ready to meet Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani within weeks.

“We are always in favor of talks, the more people talk, the more people understand each other better, on the basis of clarity and on the basis of respect,” Mogherini says as she arrived for a meeting of EU foreign and defense ministers in Helsinki.

But she added “first and foremost what is existing needs to be preserved” — specifically the 2015 deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. “We will always advocate for the full respect by all sides of the UNSC resolutions and that includes the JCPOA.”

— AFP