BICOM

The EU said on Monday it was gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile tests and called on it to stop activity that deepened mistrust and destabilised the region.

The EU said in a 12-point statement that it is “gravely concerned by Iran’s ballistic missile activity” and “deeply concerned by the hostile activities that Iran has conducted on the territory of several Member States”. The EU sanctioned Iran’s Ministry for Intelligence and Security in January for its alleged involvement in assassination attempts of Iranian dissidents in France, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The EU reiterated that it was committed to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that US President Donald Trump pulled out of last May, but added that it also has: “Serious concerns regarding Iran’s military involvement and continuous presence of Iranian forces in Syria”. The EU statement came days after Iran unveiled the new Hoveizeh cruise missile with a range of more than 1,300 kilometres.

In a statement reported by the Tasnim news agency, Iran’s foreign ministry said: “Raising such baseless and hollow accusations while known terrorist and criminal groups are free in Europe, is non-constructive at this stage, and is in line with the goals of enemies who seek to undermine Iran’s relations with Europe.”

Iran also rejected the EU’s new mechanism to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran and avoid US sanctions, calling it “late and inadequate”. Earlier this week, Brussels announced the creation of INSTEX, a transactions channel that it hopes will allow European businesses to continue to trade with Iran.

The head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, told a group of high-ranking judicial officials yesterday: “After nine months of dawdling and negotiations, European countries have come up with a limited-capacity mechanism not for exchange of money with Iran, but to supply food and medicine.” Iran said it would revise relations with Europe if it did not benefit economically from INSTEX.