EU Hopes To Build Bridges Between Iran And Neighbours
Source: Financial Times
July 28, 2015 12:45 pm
The EU and Iran pledged on Tuesday to deepen relations on issues ranging from energy to terrorism. Diplomats hope the initiative will lead to a more ambitious dialogue on regional security to help repair the Islamic Republic's battered relations with its Gulf neighbours.
On a visit to Tehran just weeks after a landmark nuclear accord, Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, cast the deal as holding “much wider potential to open a new chapter” in bilateral and regional issues between Iran and the 28-member bloc.
This month’s nuclear accord paved the way for a summer procession of visiting European dignitaries to Iran, with Ms Mogherini arriving on Tuesday and Laurent Fabius on Wednesday becoming the first French foreign minister to visit Tehran for more than a decade.
Beyond the narrow implementation work on this month’s Vienna nuclear accord — and the lucrative commerce the ending of sanctions will potentially bring — Europe also has an eye to the next diplomatic frontier: finding a way to discuss the tumultuous security situation in the region.
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