EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that the European Union should keep the lines of communication with Iran open despite recently adopting a new set of sanctions against the country.
“We have adopted five such restrictive measures, three on the basis of [alleged] violations of human rights and two based on [the charge of] sending drones to Russia, but I think that despite that we need to keep the channels of communication open, we’ve got the nuclear treaty, the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], and I think that we have to do everything we can to make sure Iran doesn’t get nuclear weapons [an objective Tehran says will never pursue],” Borrell said during closing remarks at the European Plenary Session, Sputnik reported.
On January 12, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said that the EU was preparing a fourth package of sanctions against Iran over the government’s alleged crackdown on protests that started in the country after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September.
The EU foreign ministers are expected to sign the new sanctions package later in January.
