EU Foreign Policy Chief:
Iran Won’t Play With Same Cards Again
VIENNA (Dispatches) -- EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says while the Europeans are interested in reviving a nuclear deal which is on life support, Iran has every right not to "play with the same cards again”.
Iranians are enraged after the recent assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a complicated operation near Tehran. Iran’s nuclear program has been the target of repeated terrorist attacks even after the 2015 nuclear deal with the Europeans, the U.S. and other countries.
President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the landmark deal in 2018 and unleashed the most draconian sanctions ever against Iran. President-Elect Joe Biden has hinted at returning to the accord, but the Islamic Republic has little or no faith in American politicians anymore.
In an interview with Euronews network, Borrell said Europe has been very interested in the survival of the nuclear deal with Iran.
"I have had to keep it alive, hibernating a little, but it hasn’t died. And now we also have to see what the Iranians think, because the Iranians can rightly feel cheated. And maybe they are the ones who won’t want to play with the same cards again. But we’ll have to wait,” he said.
Iran feels betrayed by the Europeans over their failure to protect the Islamic Republic from layer after layer of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration in recent years.
A European Union mechanism launched with much fanfare to facilitate payments for Iranian exports and sidestep the U.S. financial system never came to operation, leaving the Islamic Republic to its own devices to grapple with the fallout.
On Thursday, the United States targeted Iran with fresh sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Department announced that the Shahid Meisami Group and its director, Mehran Babri, have been added to its sanctions listings.
Both Babri and the organization he heads have already been placed under U.S. sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program due to alleged links to the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).
The Trump administration reimposed sanctions "against actors at all levels” in connection with SPND in March 2019, less than a year after withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear deal.
Biden, who is set to take over the White House in January, has made clear he aims to re-establish the nuclear deal.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has emphasized that Iran will seek its revenge of the assassination in "due time” and will not be rushed into a "trap”.
Later on Thursday, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Elliot Abrams claimed that Tehran is not likely to retaliate over the assassination.
"If they want sanctions relief, they know that they’re going to need to enter some kind of negotiation after January 20, and it’s got to be in their minds that they don’t want to... undertake any activities between now and Jan 20 that make sanctions relief harder to get,” he said.
Rouhani on Wednesday rejected
a bill approved by parliament that would have suspended UN inspections and boosted uranium enrichment, saying it was "harmful” to diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal and easing U.S. sanctions.
His Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday Iran will fully comply with the deal if both the United States and Europe honor their original commitments.
Addressing a Rome conference via video-link, Zarif said the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) could not be renegotiated but it could be resurrected.
"The United States has commitments. It is not in a position to set conditions,” he said.
Iran’s Guardian Council oversight body approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt UN inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under the 2015 deal if sanctions are not eased within two months.
Zarif said that although the government did not like the law, it would nonetheless implement it.
"But it is not irreversible,” he said. "The Europeans and USA can come back into compliance with the JCPOA and not only this law will not be implemented, but in fact the actions we have taken ... will be rescinded. We will go back to full compliance.”
Zarif said economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration had cost Iranians $250 billion and made it impossible to buy medicines and vaccines needed to combat the coronavirus, which has taken a particularly heavy toll on his country.
"It is a crime against humanity,” he said, adding that the U.S. measures were preventing European companies from doing business in Iran.
"Europeans say they are in full compliance (with the deal) but they simply are not. ... We don’t see any European companies in Iran, we do not see any European country buying oil from Iran, we do not see any European banks send us our money,” Zarif said.
The foreign minister said he hoped that neighboring Arab states would seek dialogue with Tehran once Trump left office.
"We are their neighbors. We will be in this region together. I do not believe that they want to allow Israel to bring the fight to Iran,” Zarif said.
Iranians are enraged after the recent assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a complicated operation near Tehran. Iran’s nuclear program has been the target of repeated terrorist attacks even after the 2015 nuclear deal with the Europeans, the U.S. and other countries.
President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the landmark deal in 2018 and unleashed the most draconian sanctions ever against Iran. President-Elect Joe Biden has hinted at returning to the accord, but the Islamic Republic has little or no faith in American politicians anymore.
In an interview with Euronews network, Borrell said Europe has been very interested in the survival of the nuclear deal with Iran.
"I have had to keep it alive, hibernating a little, but it hasn’t died. And now we also have to see what the Iranians think, because the Iranians can rightly feel cheated. And maybe they are the ones who won’t want to play with the same cards again. But we’ll have to wait,” he said.
Iran feels betrayed by the Europeans over their failure to protect the Islamic Republic from layer after layer of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration in recent years.
A European Union mechanism launched with much fanfare to facilitate payments for Iranian exports and sidestep the U.S. financial system never came to operation, leaving the Islamic Republic to its own devices to grapple with the fallout.
On Thursday, the United States targeted Iran with fresh sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Department announced that the Shahid Meisami Group and its director, Mehran Babri, have been added to its sanctions listings.
Both Babri and the organization he heads have already been placed under U.S. sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program due to alleged links to the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND).
The Trump administration reimposed sanctions "against actors at all levels” in connection with SPND in March 2019, less than a year after withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear deal.
Biden, who is set to take over the White House in January, has made clear he aims to re-establish the nuclear deal.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has emphasized that Iran will seek its revenge of the assassination in "due time” and will not be rushed into a "trap”.
Later on Thursday, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Elliot Abrams claimed that Tehran is not likely to retaliate over the assassination.
"If they want sanctions relief, they know that they’re going to need to enter some kind of negotiation after January 20, and it’s got to be in their minds that they don’t want to... undertake any activities between now and Jan 20 that make sanctions relief harder to get,” he said.
Rouhani on Wednesday rejected
a bill approved by parliament that would have suspended UN inspections and boosted uranium enrichment, saying it was "harmful” to diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal and easing U.S. sanctions.
His Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday Iran will fully comply with the deal if both the United States and Europe honor their original commitments.
Addressing a Rome conference via video-link, Zarif said the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) could not be renegotiated but it could be resurrected.
"The United States has commitments. It is not in a position to set conditions,” he said.
Iran’s Guardian Council oversight body approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt UN inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under the 2015 deal if sanctions are not eased within two months.
Zarif said that although the government did not like the law, it would nonetheless implement it.
"But it is not irreversible,” he said. "The Europeans and USA can come back into compliance with the JCPOA and not only this law will not be implemented, but in fact the actions we have taken ... will be rescinded. We will go back to full compliance.”
Zarif said economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration had cost Iranians $250 billion and made it impossible to buy medicines and vaccines needed to combat the coronavirus, which has taken a particularly heavy toll on his country.
"It is a crime against humanity,” he said, adding that the U.S. measures were preventing European companies from doing business in Iran.
"Europeans say they are in full compliance (with the deal) but they simply are not. ... We don’t see any European companies in Iran, we do not see any European country buying oil from Iran, we do not see any European banks send us our money,” Zarif said.
The foreign minister said he hoped that neighboring Arab states would seek dialogue with Tehran once Trump left office.
"We are their neighbors. We will be in this region together. I do not believe that they want to allow Israel to bring the fight to Iran,” Zarif said.