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EU signals hope of saving JCPOA under Biden presidency

Thursday, 03 December 2020 1:38 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 03 December 2020 1:39 AM ]

Jerome Hughes

Press TV, Brussels

On Wednesday morning in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen chaired a meeting of all 27 EU commissioners.

The main item on the agenda was formulating a plan to repair damaged relations with the United States under a Joe Biden presidency. At a press conference following the meeting we asked if there was fresh optimism in the commission that the Iran nuclear deal can be saved, despite the best efforts of current US President Donald Trump.

The same topic was raised by other journalists but the EU's top diplomat was remaining relatively tight lipped. During an EU event 24 hours earlier, Josep Borrell was certainly more candid when asked about the assassination in Tehran last Friday of Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Expert security analysts are in no doubt that Israel, having had the green light from Washington, was behind the murder. However, many of those who are watching events closely believe efforts to prevent the US from re-engaging with Iran under a Joe Biden presidency will most likely fail.

Without going into any details, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell confirmed he spoke with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday. EU officials are said to be on tenterhooks hoping that tensions in the Middle East don't boil over before Biden can get into the White House.

No doubt all of the aforementioned issues will be discussed in detail in two week's time, on the 16th of December, when representatives from the countries involved in the JCPOA will meet in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

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