EU vows to try to save nuke deal as Iran steps away after Soleimani killing

The European Union said it will “spare no efforts” to keep the 2015 nuclear deal preventing Iran from developing atomic weapons.
The head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said its foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will continue to work “in the midterm” to reach out to all participants to save the deal, and urged dialogue after Iran fired a missile attack on two American bases in response, and said it would no longer respect limits set on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium.
“The use of weapons must stop now to give space for dialogue. We are called upon to do everything possible to rekindle talks”, Von der Leyen said.
Borrell also urged de-escalation in the region: “The latest rocket attack on airbases in Iraq used by US and coalition forces, among them European forces, is yet another example of escalation and increased confrontation. It is in no one’s interest to turn up the spiral of violence even further”, he said.
He stressed that now the deal is “one of the most important tools of nonproliferation and regional security”, because “this is the only place where we can sit together with the Russians and Chinese to talk on a multilateral basis about the many risks that we are facing”.
Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action together with the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and China. However, US president Donald Trump abandoned it in 2018.
The EU foreign ministers agreed to meet on 10 January to discuss the crisis. Analysts, however, say saving the deal will be very hard, seeing how Europe has been a spectator in the latest Iran flare-up.