EU Contacts Trump on JCPOA

The European Union has informally contacted the incoming Trump administration to clarify “misunderstanding” about the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which he has threatened to scrap, an EU diplomatic source said on Tuesday. EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, on Monday insisted the bloc would stand by the accord—which she helped negotiate—because it showed that diplomacy works and serves Europe’s security needs. US president-elect, Donald Trump, has blasted the agreement as “one of the dumbest deals I have ever seen”. The EU diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, said the contacts were made to explain the value of the accord, AFP reported.  “Some informal outreach was done to the new US administration to explain the added value of the deal,” the source said. “There has been a lot of misunderstanding out there ... It is a multilateral agreement; if one side steps away from it, the others can do the same.” The source said the EU was determined to stick with the accord and was “working very much hand in hand with China and Russia on this”. We see this deal as very important, as having averted a potential major crisis in a region running high with tensions.”