TEHRAN -- Senior Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Azizi on Wednesday condemned France’s “constant betrayals” against the Islamic Republic, warning that Paris’s continued anti-Iranian measures will further complicate its relations with Tehran.
“The Iranian people will never forget France’s constant betrayals over issues such as contaminated blood, INSTEX and snapback,” Azizi, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, wrote on X.
“Continuing this course and anti-Iranian actions will only make conditions more difficult for it,” he added.
Azizi’s remarks came amid growing tensions between Tehran and Paris and longstanding disagreements between Iran and the E3 — France, Germany and the UK — over Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
His reference to INSTEX, or the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, and the nuclear deal’s “snapback” mechanism reflects two longstanding Iranian grievances over Europe’s approach to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
INSTEX was established in 2019 by the three European countries to facilitate legitimate trade between European companies and Iran while circumventing U.S. sanctions. The mechanism was ultimately shut down by the E3 in 2023.
The three European countries also moved last year to trigger the UN Security Council’s snapback mechanism under the 2015 nuclear agreement, a step Tehran rejected while continuing to emphasize diplomacy and transparency concerning its nuclear program.
Azizi’s warning followed Iran’s Foreign Ministry decision to declare two French diplomats working at the French Embassy in Tehran persona non grata over activities the ministry said violated international law and the 1961