The EU is set to impose new sanctions targeting Belarusian officials responsible for the brutal crackdown in the ex-Soviet state, Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters on Friday after video talks held by EU foreign ministers. The top diplomats from the bloc's 27 Member States met to review former restrictions against Belarus party leadership that the EU removed in 2016, citing progress in improving the rule of law.

The United States will do everything in its power to renew the international arms embargo on Iran under review at the United Nations, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called an extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council meeting Friday afternoon. “We will discuss urgent issues and address the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Belarus Presidential elections, as well as developments in Lebanon,” he said in a tweet Wednesday.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday the European Union must discuss sanctions against Belarus as the opposition in the country described presidential election results as rigged, news wires reported. The EU had lifted sanctions because the country had taken steps in the right direction, including releasing political prisoners. Foreign ministry in Berlin earlier said there were numerous indications of fraud in the election.

Germany, France and Italy plan to push ahead with a bid to use EU sanctions to stem the continuing supply of arms to war-torn Libya. The three countries have agreed on a list of companies and individuals providing ships, aircraft or other logistics for the transport of weapons, in violation of a UN embargo that has been in place since 2011, EU sources told dpa.

Ahead of the presidential elections in Belarus, which will take place this Sunday, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affaires Josep Borrell issued a call on the country’s authorities to guarantee peaceful, free and fair elections.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Eastern Europe next week to discuss US troops dislocation out of Germany, news wires reported. He will travel to Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Austria on a weeklong trip starting 11 August that is expected to also focus on limiting Chinese influence.

The German frigate "Hamburg" set sail from Wilhelmshaven in the north of Germany on Tuesday to Libyan coast. The ship will be part of the EU operation Irini, designed to help enforce a UN weapons embargo on Libya in the hope of stabilising the country, news wires reported. The ship will patrol the coastal waters off Libya in the next five months.

The European Union is willing to compromise to help break a deadlock in Brexit talks by softening its demand that Britain heed EU rules on state aid in the future, diplomatic sources told Reuters.

EU exports to Vietnam will be taxed less as of tomorrow, 1 August, as an immediate effect of the entry into force of the EU-Vietnam trade agreement that will ultimately scrap duties on 99% of all goods traded between the two sides. Doing business in Vietnam will also become easier for European companies, the EU press service reported.