EU countries on Monday gave European firms legal cover to operate in Iran despite the US pullout from the nuclear deal, after a report that the Trump administration has rejected calls by Brussels for an exemption from sanctions.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the 28 countries were doing all they could to save the deal but conceded President Donald Trump’s administration could still wreck it.
US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May, and Washington now plans to reimpose sanctions on Tehran next month.
“Today, the (European) Council has endorsed the update of the blocking statute annex on the nuclear deal with Iran,” Mogherini told reporters in Brussels at a meeting with EU foreign ministers.
She said the European Parliament gave its consent to the statute two weeks ago.