The European Union (EU) will work to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and would welcome any moves to add to its conditions, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Friday.
"My role...is to preserve the full implementation of the existing agreements. Again if something else can be built on it, this would be welcomed and accompanied by the European Union," Mogherini told reporters during an EU foreign ministers meeting in Helsinki.
The deal has been in jeopardy since the United States withdrew from it last year and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran, seeking to push Tehran into wider security concessions including curbs on its ballistic missile program.
French President Emmanuel Macron (2R) holds talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (3L) during a meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France, August 25, 2019. /VCG Photo
New hope of unblocking the political impasse emerged after Iran's foreign minister made a flying visit for talks with host France at the G7 summit in Biarritz, last Sunday.
"If this new momentum is real, this can build on the work that we have been doing for years," Mogherini said, referring to the existing treaty with Iran, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and international powers aimed to curb Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of many international sanctions on Tehran.
Mogherini declined to answer directly when asked if the United States now demanded that Iran to do more than just going back in line with the existing deal's commitments.
"Our work is to continue to ensure that there is full compliance from the Iranian side to its nuclear commitments," she said.