Why the EU should give up on the Iran deal
Talking it up is not going to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal and countries need to accept that it is dead
In the three months since US President Donald Trump unwisely abrogated the nuclear deal with Iran, Europe’s leaders have been vowing to keep it alive. They must now face what is already clear to business leaders everywhere: the agreement cannot be revived. The sooner work begins on a new one, the better for everyone involved. Saving the deal — which granted Iran sanctions relief in return for new restrictions on its nuclear programme — was never a real prospect after Trump pulled out. Once US sanctions snapped back into place, few companies would dare to do business with the Islamic Republic. And yet Europe’s leaders have clung to the conceit that the agreement could still be made to work, ignoring not only the exhortations of the Trump administration but also the clear message from their own companies, which (like their American counterparts) have been scrapping plans to do business with Iran. It has fallen to Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, to...
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