The EU’s desperate bid to keep the Iran deal alive isn’t working

The European Union finds itself in a bind. Donald Trump’s reintroduction of sanctions against Iran has left European diplomats desperately scrambling to salvage twelve years of nuclear diplomacy. On Friday, Jean-Claude Juncker underlined the EU’s commitment to keeping the deal alive, saying that ‘Europeans must keep their word and not give in to a change of mood, just because others are doing so’. The EU has its work cut out, but is using every tool in its arsenal to prevent Trump from undoing its efforts.

A blocking statute previously levied in the 1990s has been updated and re-initiated, allowing European companies doing business with Iran to recover damages in court. Last month, Brussels provided Tehran with £15m of aid to help offset the impact of US sanctions. And in one of the most audacious moves against the Trump administration’s Iran policy, the bloc agreed to establish an alternative payment system between European and Iranian banks that is designed to skirt the U.S.