EU Foreign Policy chief Feredrica Mogherini has said the nuclear deal, from among eleven other goals, is what she aims to preserve in 2017.

“It is diplomacy that creates new opportunities for our economies, for our citizens, for our region’s security. We bring with us in the New Year our determination to preserve this method. And to preserve an historic deal, serving everyone’s security,” Mogherini said in a post published on her website.

“During the negotiations with Iran, we were often told: you’ll never make it,” she said. “After we signed the nuclear deal, last year, the sceptics said: it’s never going to work.”

The EU foreign policy chief went on to say that the nuclear deal has worked against all those predictions.

Mogherini also said the 5+1 group and Iran gathered in January 2016 and certified for the first time that all sides had implemented the agreement of July 2015.

“Since then, we have kept meeting regularly – the European Union, which continues to guarantee the agreement, with Iran, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany, France and in constant cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency – to verify the respect of everyone’s commitments,” she said.

On July 14, 2015, the aforementioned countries signed a nuclear deal, officially termed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Under the deal, Iran was granted relief from sanctions in exchange for it limiting its nuclear program. 

MH/PA