Borrell: Window for Revived Iran Nuclear Deal Narrowing

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
TT

Borrell: Window for Revived Iran Nuclear Deal Narrowing

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell

The window for an agreement to bring Iran back into compliance with a nuclear deal along with the US is closing, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Tuesday.

"If we want to conclude an agreement, decisions are needed now. This is still possible, but the political space to revive the JCPOA may narrow soon," he tweeted, according to AFP.

The JCPOA is the 2015 nuclear deal under which Iran committed to curbing its nuclear program in return for lifting of international sanctions.

Former US president Donald Trump severely weakened the pact when he pulled America out of it in 2018, prompting Iran to drop its own compliance.

Iran has now enriched uranium close to the level needed to build atomic weapons.

Efforts led by Borrell and his deputy Enrique Mora to get Iran and US back under the nuclear deal's terms have stalled, largely because of a late-running added demand by Tehran that Washington remove Iran's Revolutionary Guards from a terror blacklist.

Borrell in his tweet said he had again spoken with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, following up on talks he had during a surprise June 25 visit to Tehran.

Indirect negotiations between Iran and the US hosted by Qatar last week failed to produce a breakthrough.

The 2015 deal was strenuously negotiated by European powers France, Britain and Germany, along with Russia, China and the United States.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he would "make every effort" to get Iran to revise its extra demands and take up the agreement worked out for a revival of the nuclear pact.



Ireland Formally Intervenes in ICJ Genocide Case against Israel

Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, in Berlin in January. Michele Tantussi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, in Berlin in January. Michele Tantussi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
TT

Ireland Formally Intervenes in ICJ Genocide Case against Israel

Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, in Berlin in January. Michele Tantussi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, in Berlin in January. Michele Tantussi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Ireland has formally asked to intervene in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, the International Court of Justice said Tuesday.
The request submitted in the Hague on Monday has roiled Irish relations with Israel.
Israel, which denies the allegations, announced last month that it would close its embassy in Ireland after the Irish government decided to intervene in South Africa’s case.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the “antisemitic rhetoric of the Irish government against Israel are rooted in efforts to delegitimize and demonize the Jewish state.”
In May, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia it would recognize a Palestinian state.
Several other countries have also intervened in the case: Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, Spain, Chile, Bolivia, the Maldives and Türkiye.