IRAN-NUCLEAR/EU ARRIVALS EU foreign affairs ministers want Iran deal to help resolve conflicts in Syria, Yemen

Record ID: 146541

  • Title: IRAN-NUCLEAR/EU ARRIVALS EU foreign affairs ministers want Iran deal to help resolve conflicts in Syria, Yemen
  • Date: 20th July 2015
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JULY 20, 2015) (REUTERS) FABIUS FACING JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA15GPFVQ71YAIGNTLFSZYB6EHE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: European Union foreign affairs ministers said on Monday (July 20) they hoped a nuclear deal with Iran would help solve other conflicts in the Middle East and encourage the resumption of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
    Iran and six world powers last week reached a landmark agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program. The deal could end decades of international isolation and EU ministers hoped it would have far-reaching political consequences in the Middle East.
    As she arrived to chair a meeting of European Union foreign affairs ministers, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she hoped the deal would have "positive consequences" for conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
    "It's not an agreement based on trust, as President Obama mentioned, but it is an agreement that can lead to trust and this is a work that needs to be done and the European Union, we will start discussing today, the European Union is ready to play its role, to help, to facilitate this rebuilding of trust in the region and hopefully also with positive consequences in the major issues, crises, that are open in the region starting from Syria and Yemen," she said.
    Iran has provided military and financial support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the four-year-long conflict that has become a focal point for Shi'ite Iran's power struggle with the conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy of Saudi Arabia.
    Jean Asselborn, the foreign affairs of Luxembourg - who is the country currently chairing the rotating EU's presidency, said he wanted to see the deal leading to "the stabilisation of the Middle East, of the great Middle East" and a resumption of "dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran, between the Shi'ites and Sunnis".
    In a first concrete sign of European determination to quickly rebuild economic and political ties with Iran after a 12-year standoff, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Tehran with an economic delegation. Other European powers were expected to follow.
    German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the deal with Iran shows a diplomatic approach could be used in Syria too.
    "I hope the deal with Iran provides a stimulus for similar methods of approach to ease the conflict in Syria although we are far from a solution," he said.
    Speaking in Iran on Saturday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, however said the nuclear deal would not change Iran's policy in supporting allies in Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon and among the Palestinians.
    Iran's extensive involvement in conflicts across the region has left America's long-standing allies questioning why a deal was struck at all.
    EU foreign affairs ministers are also set to discuss security in Tunisia over a working lunch with Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid and how to restart the Middle East talks between Israel and the Palestinian authorities.
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