On Friday 11 May, the European External Action Service announced that High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini had called a meeting of the E3 foreign ministers (Germany, France and UK) and their Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday 15 May.
The three European ministers and Mogherini will also meet alone, just before their meeting with Zarif. The two meetings are expected to be held in the evening.
On Monday 14 May, the spokesperson for the EEAS, Maja Kocijancic, said that contact was ongoing, especially with the Americans. "We are doing our maximum to preserve the deal (Ed: on the Iranian nuclear programme) (...) that is the focus of our work", she said, when questioned about the negotiation of a new agreement. "The current goal is to preserve the current deal", she insisted.
From Moscow, after a visit to Beijing, Zarif asked for "assurances" on Monday from the signatories of the deal after the US withdrawal from it. "The final objective of all these talks is to obtain assurances that the Iranian people's interests, guaranteed (by the deal), will be defended", he said at the start of his meeting with Russia's minister, Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov said the Russians and Europeans should "defend their interests together". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)