Josep Borrell: Time for all parties to back nuclear deal with Iran

The Iran Nuclear Deal must be protected for myriad reasons, writes Josep Borrell

A building at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility 320km south of the capital Tehran, Iran., after it was damaged in a fire. The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran sought to downplay the fire Thursday, calling it an "incident" that only affected an "industrial shed." Picture: AP

Five years ago this week in Vienna, the P5+1 (the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany) and Iran agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

To mark the fifth anniversary of that occasion, we should acknowledge a simple reality: without this deal, Iran could have developed nuclear weapons by now, adding yet another source of instability to a volatile region.