EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrel invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Brussels due to the growing conflict between Iran and the United States. It is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the statement of the European Foreign Service.
“High Representative Joseph Borrel discussed this week with the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif the latest developments in Iraq, talked about the need to reduce tensions in the region and the importance of maintaining the JCPOA… Joseph Borrel invited the Iranian Foreign Minister to Brussels”, – the statement said.
The document also says that the EU Foreign Minister expressed deep concern over the intensification of clashes in Iraq, including the killing of Iranian general Kassem Suleimani.
Borrel called on the Iranian authorities to “exercise restraint and carefully consider any reaction in order to avoid further escalation, which is detrimental to the entire region and its population”.
The Pentagon confirmed on January 2 that the United States conducted another air attack in the Baghdad airport area, the victim of which was the commander of the Al-Quds special forces of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Kassem Suleimani, one of Iran’s most influential military leaders.
Along with him, ten more people were killed, including four officers of the IRGC, as well as several senior figures of the Shiite militia of Iraq. The attack was ordered by Donald Trump, who later called Suleimani the “terrorist leader”.
Earlier Sunday, Sputnik Radio reported that Iran’s military commander Abdulrahim Mousavi doubted that the United States had the courage to strike at 52 Iranian sites, as U.S. President Donald Trump had previously said.
Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran, threatened Washington with “strategic retaliation” for the “martyrdom” of Suleymani.