EU Expects JCPOA to Hold

The European Union does not expect last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and major powers to be trashed after US President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House, a senior EU official told reporters on Friday. The future of the July 2015 pact between Tehran and six world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was called into question after Trump won the US presidential election on a pledge to renegotiate it.  “It is a multiparty agreement that was negotiated for years by six nations and Iran, and endorsed by the [EU] Council on Foreign Relations and the [UN] Security Council. We believe everyone is interested in keeping it,” the senior EU official said in Brussels on condition of anonymity.  The pact has limited Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the easing of international sanctions, in what Trump said last year was the “stupidest” deal of all time. His running mate and now vice president-elect Mike Pence promised to rip it up after talks with allies.