International Bulletin

The European Union’s foreign policy commissioner, Josep Borrell, said that “the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the nuclear deal) is not dead, but has completely stopped,” in an interview with the Financial Times.

Commenting on the issue of placing the IRGC on the terrorism list by the European Union, he stressed that “you can imagine stopping the action plan incrementally, if that is done (putting the IRGC on the terrorism list)… it will certainly make things more difficult.”

Earlier, the European Union’s foreign policy commissioner, Josep Borrell, confirmed that “putting the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the terrorist list requires a judicial decision in one of the European Union member states.”

It is noteworthy that on January 19, 598 deputies in the European Parliament voted in favor of a draft resolution to include the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on the European Union’s “terrorism list”, while only 9 deputies voted against the resolution and 31 abstained from voting.

And Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian stressed, in a call he made with Borrell following the decision, that “the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is an official and sovereign institution that plays an important and vital role in providing Iran’s national security and security of the region,” noting that “the European Parliament’s behavior in Accusing this security-making institution of terrorism is a kind of shooting at Europe itself,” he was quoted by the Iranian news agency (IRNA).

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it will evacuate today the employees of its embassy in Iran and members of their families, two days after an attack by an armed man that killed a security guard and wounded two others, which Baku described as a “terrorist act.”

And the police in Tehran announced the arrest of a person suspected of being linked to the attack that took place on Friday, and the Iranian authorities condemned them, but stated that the motives of the gunman appeared to be personal rather than political.

The attack occurred amid growing tensions between the two neighbors over Iran’s treatment of its large Azeri minority, and over Azerbaijan’s decision this month to appoint its first-ever ambassador to Israel.

And the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced after the attack that it had summoned the Iranian ambassador in Baku to demand justice, and announced its intention to evacuate the embassy staff from Tehran. It did not provide any other details, including whether the embassy would continue to operate.

The ministry said earlier that “the shooting was a result of Tehran’s failure to respond to its demands to enhance security.”

Videos captured by surveillance cameras showed the attacker storming the embassy building and shooting two men before a third employee at the embassy controlled him.

Later, Iranian state television showed a gray-haired man said to be the attacker. The man said he was acting with the aim of releasing his Azerbaijani wife, who he believed was being held at the embassy. A young woman, who was identified as the man’s daughter, explained that her mother was in Azerbaijan.

State media reported that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called for a “comprehensive investigation” into the attack and sent condolences to Azerbaijan and the family of the dead man.