EU envoy 'retained' in Germany following Tehran visit
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The top European Union negotiator for nuclear talks on Friday said he was “retained” briefly by at Frankfurt airport on his way back from Tehran following nuclear discussions.
Enrique Mora said he was retained “by the German police” at Frankfurt airport as he was on his way back to Brussels from Iran without a “single explanation.”
EU Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Peter Stando, confirmed Mora’s tweet to Rudaw English saying the issue “was solved.”
"He was stopped at the airport and let go shortly," said Stano via email, adding that Mora "continued his onward travels as planned."
Mora said the move “seems a violation of the Vienna Convention.”
“An EU official on an official mission holding a Spanish diplomatic passport. Took out my passport and my phones,” he tweeted.
EU ambassador to UN Vienna and head of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Iran task force were also stopped along with Mora. All three were later released.
Now released along with with my two colleagues, the EU Ambassador to UN Vienna and the head of the EEAS Iran task force. We were kept separated. Refusal to give any explanation for what seems a violation of the Vienna Convention.
— Enrique Mora (@enriquemora_) May 13, 2022
Mora traveled to Tehran on Wednesday and met with Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's chief negotiator in the Vienna talks to revive the stalled nuclear deal talks.
Shortly after Mora’s trip to Tehran ended, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday said the Iran nuclear deal talks have “reopened.”
"There is a perspective of reaching a final agreement,” Borrell said, AFP reported.
Talks between world powers and Iran have stalled since mid-March as negotiators seek to return to the landmark accord that curtailed the Islamic republic's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Mora has also played a key role in talks between Washington and Tehran regarding the deal.
The EU envoy also called for the release of Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian doctor facing imminent execution in Iran.
Djalali, an expert in emergency medicine, is facing execution within the month after being arrested during an academic visit to Iran in October 2016 and subsequently sentenced to death the next year on charges of alleged spying for the Israeli government.While still waiting for continuing my trip to Brussels I want to underline that in Tehran I raised the need to stop execution of #AhmadrezaDjalali and asked for his release on humanitarian grounds.
— Enrique Mora (@enriquemora_) May 13, 2022