EU foreign ministers seek to keep Iran nuclear deal alive

As US looks to impose tought new sanctions on Iran, the European Union scrambles to save buisness links

CORRECTION / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini arrives to take part in a Foreign Affairs minister meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on May 28, 2018. / AFP / JOHN THYS

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini arrives to take part in a Foreign Affairs minister meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on May 28, 2018. / AFP / JOHN THYS

Assocated Press

May 28, 2018

European Union foreign ministers were seeking to protect the bloc's strategic and economic interests in Iran in the wake of the US withdrawal from the international nuclear deal.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Monday that "nobody believes it is going to be an easy exercise but we are determined to do it."

The US pulled out of the pact earlier this month and wants to impose tough sanctions on Iran, while European powers and Tehran say they are committed to keep working together to save the deal.

Mogherini also stressed that the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency says that Iran continues to stay below the maximum level to which it can enrich uranium and appears to be fulfilling other obligations.