“EU members will always try to draw a red line--[like] with the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, and they will do the same thing...to convince Iran not to do these things any more,” Mahdi Ghodsi, economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies told TRT World.
The EU stated it was committed to the 2015 JCPOA after the US withdrew in 2018 under President Trump, both to prevent the collapse of the Iranian economy, and in rejection of the US’sHowever, Iranian leadership has repeatedly questioned the EU’s commitment to the deal, particularly regarding economic investment.
Murat Aslan, an economist at the Ankara-based Iran Research Center told TRT World that many in Iran feel a great deal of disappointment regarding the EU, having expected a more proactive stance for all aspects of economic and business dealings, including, a mechanism designed to circumvent US sanctions on Iran. “For a long time, they didn’t say anything, but what we can see is that many on Iranian side have given up on the EU, and don’t believe that the nuclear deal [JCPOA] may survive.