“This (the assassination) was a criminal act … I am sorry to say but this is not the way you are solving problems,” Borrell said at an online debate with his predecessors, Federica Mogherini and Javier Solana, dubbed “The EU in a changing world” on Tuesday.
Without directly referring to the perpetrators of the Iranian nuclear scientist’s assassination, Borrell said there are people who do not want the historic nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to be revived.
He, however, emphasized that the EU member states have “been working during these years to keep the deal alive in spite of the American withdrawal.”
Borrell expressed hope that the European Union would be able to persuade the United States to return to the JCPOA and Iran to go back to full compliance with the nuclear commitments as envisioned by the deal.
Fakhrizadeh, who headed the Iranian Defense Ministry’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), was targeted on Friday in a multi-pronged terror attack involving at least one explosion and small fire by a number of assailants in Absard city of Damavand County, Tehran Province.
Iranian government officials and military commanders have hinted that the Israeli regime could have been behind the terror attack, vowing harsh revenge against all the criminals involved.