Marietje Schaake, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Mr President, I want to begin by complimenting High Representative Ashton and her team on her leadership in the negotiations and the achievement of an interim deal on the nuclear dossier, along with the global leaders and Iran. Now, some people ask: why we would engage with the controversial Islamic Republic of Iran at all, beyond the nuclear deal? The answer is simple and clear: welcoming Iran back out of isolation towards better and more constructive relations with the EU and the rest of the world helps us, but mostly serves the Iranian population. They are the country’s most valuable asset. Their human rights, their well-being – especially that of women, who suffer disproportionately from the systematic repression in the country – are at the core of our focus. I am glad that Nasrin Sotoudeh took time to visit us last December, and I am glad that High Representative Ashton took time to visit with Gohar Eshgi.

We also have other issues of shared concern, such as the rise of extremism and terrorism in the Middle East, whether it comes from Jihadists or whether Hezbollah, with the support of Iran, is responsible. We must address this. We can also work with Iran in seeking to curb drug smuggling, but there should be clear pre-conditions that suspects do not receive the death penalty, which we of course strongly condemn. The window of opportunity is clear, but immensely fragile. Let us do what we can to work with the Rouhani government to try to turn promising words into concrete actions and reforms which will benefit the people. They cannot wait to see more change. We can best push our interests and values by opening an EU Representation in Tehran, which is one of the key recommendations of our report.