Diplomats from Germany, France, Britain, led by senior EU diplomat Helga Schmid, and also from Russia and China, will be meeting in Vienna next week to discuss a new agreement with Iran similar to the 2015 deal, a report said on Sunday.
According to German Welt am Sonntag newspaper, the negotiators hope that an amended deal would help bring the US on board and persuade President Trump to lift the sanctions on Iran. The new agreement may also reportedly provide financial aid to the Islamic Republic.
The report said that the deal would put curbs on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and the role it plays in the region.
The participants are also expected to discuss how to defend against the sanctions Washington is threatening to use against European companies, which continue doing business with Tehran.
US representatives will not be attending the Vienna meeting, though and it remains unclear whether Iranian representatives will take part, according to the German Sunday newspaper.
The media report comes just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the city of Sochi to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the Iranian nuclear deal being high on the agenda.
Meanwhile, and in a clear response to the US decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal, the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced that the bloc plans to apply a 1996 law that would prohibit European companies from complying with any sanctions the US would reintroduce against Tehran.
Juncker said that EU leaders had “also decided to allow the European Investment Bank to facilitate European companies’ investment in Iran” and that the European Commission would continue to cooperate with Tehran.
Source: Sputnik
