The so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – or the JCPOA for short – was signed in 2015, but work begun on the accord, which lifted economic sanctions on Tehran on in exchange for halting its nuclear programmes, back in 2009. In the same year, Catherine Ashton, a Labour Party Life Peer and a close ally of Tony Blair became the EU’s first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs making her the bloc’s most senior international diplomat. She conducted negotiations, on behalf of Brussels, with Iran until the end of 2014, with her “determined and steady” negotiating skills largely credited for the deal’s conclusion.
Some experts even suggested the deal – which was signed between Iran, Russia, China, France, Germany, UK and the US – should have been penned as the “Ashton Agreement”.
By 2016-2017, the EU increased its imports with Iran by 31.5 percent and its exports also rose by 83.9 percent highlighting the importance of the deal to the bloc’s economic interests.
But now Brussels finds itself between a rock and a hard place – wedged between Donald Trump’s United States and Iran.
President Trump had long pulled Washington’s support for the JCPOA, which came into force under his predecessor Barack Obama.
However, tensions only truly escalated after he rubber-stamped an airstrike to assassinate celebrated Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
Tehran opted to respond with a ballistic missile attack on two Iraqi military bases that played host to US forces.
Brussels continues to back the nuclear deal, in the desperate hope that words – and words alone – will be able to save the accord.
Pieter Cleppe, of the Open Europe think-tank, said: “Over the last year, the EU has been trying to save the Iran deal, amongst others, by creating a special purpose vehicle to allow continued trade between European businesses and Iran.
“This has failed, while the Iran deal is basically dead.”
The EU’s most meaningful intervention since the Middle Eastern crisis escalated has been to call for a reduction to the tensions in the region, clearly not wanting to upset either the US or Iran.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a statement, said: “We are deeply concerned by Iran’s announcement that it will not respect the limit set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) any longer. This announcement comes at a time of severe tensions in the region. From a European viewpoint, it is important for Iran to return to the nuclear deal. We have to convince Iran that it’s also in its own interest.
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Mr Cleppe said: “The EU should now work with the United States to agree a new deal, which should be much stricter when it comes to restricting Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
“Ultimately, Tehran giving up any chance for a nuclear weapon should finally enable restarting trade between the West and Iran.
“This is the most sustainable approach to avoid conflict and promote liberalisation and democratisation in Iran.”