No foreign power can make decisions on legitimate EU-Iran trade ties: Mogherini

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says the bloc will not allow any foreign meddling - even from its closest ally - in its legitimate trade ties with other countries amid US attempts to kill Europe's business relations with Iran following its withdrawal from a multilateral nuclear deal.

In a recent interview with the Saudi-based Arab News daily, Mogherini stressed the EU's resolve to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) despite the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, PressTV reports. 

“We are working, as a union of 28 member states and with the rest of the international community, to preserve a nuclear agreement that has so far been implemented in full, as certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 13 consecutive reports. We do this because of our collective security,” she said. The top EU diplomat also defended the JCPOA, saying that the accord “is delivering precisely on that purpose.”

“Part of this work requires us to guarantee that firms wanting to do legitimate business with Iran are allowed to do so. This is what we are working on right now: tools that will assist, protect, and reassure economic actors pursuing legitimate business with Iran,” she added.