Baku, Azerbaijan, March 5
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Iran has openly criticized EU over its efforts to keep the US committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA/nuclear deal) through giving privileges to President Donald Trump.
“The EU policy on giving privileges to the US in order to keep the country in the nuclear deal is wrong and this means surrendering to the psychological game initiated by Trump,” IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, as saying at a meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Tehran on Monday.
A possible failure of the pact would damage the reputation of international agreements, he added.
Welcoming efforts to expand bilateral cooperation with France, Shamkhani urged Paris to remove obstacles to deepening banking ties between the two countries.
Speaking about Iran’s role in the region, Shamkhani said that if it was not for Iran’s “costly confrontation" with terrorism, insecurity could quickly spread into Europe and France.
The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council touched upon Iran’s missile program and said the country's missile capability poses no threat to other countries and is merely based on the policy of deterrence.
With Trump warning of a last chance for “the worst deal ever negotiated”, UK, France and Germany have been working with US officials to draw up a strategy to improve the Iran nuclear deal in return for Trump keeping the pact alive by renewing US sanctions relief on May 12.
Bloomberg on Monday reported that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is traveling to Tehran as part of a European drive to salvage the nuclear deal with Iran that President Donald Trump is threatening to scuttle and the Islamic Republic has said it may be forced to abandon. On May 12, Donald Trump is expected to decide whether to continue waiving sanctions under a US law.
So far, Iran has adhered to the terms of the nuclear deal, as verified by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors in 10 reports since the pact was implemented in January 2016.
But the economic benefits Iran is receiving in return have fallen short of expectations, even after energy and financial sanctions were lifted. Major banks and companies have avoided engaging with Iran from fear of running afoul of remaining US restrictions or seeing a “snapback” of sanctions given Trump’s threats.
US President Donald Trump has told the Europeans that they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal” or he would re-impose the sanctions that Washington lifted as part of the pact.