BICOM

European states won’t be able to avoid US sanctions that have been imposed after the Trump administration withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, according to Iran’s Foreign Minister.

In an interview with Khamenei.ir, the official website of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mohammed Javad Zarif said: “The Europeans at first viewed the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] as an achievement, but maybe they were not prepared to, and certainly they were not capable of standing up against US sanctions.”

In an implicit criticism of European efforts to set up a special trade and payment mechanism for European companies to avoid US sanctions, he said: “We will continue pressing the Europeans to implement their commitments. Europe must know that they cannot shy away from their responsibilities with a few statements and some unaccomplished plans.”

Zarif also tweeted yesterday: “A year after US’s unlawful abrogation of JCPOA, Europe can’t muster political will to defy US’ #EconomicTERRORISM. Not even by setting up a single banking channel for humanitarian aid. E3 [UK, Germany and France] are instead busy appeasing @realDonaldTrump by pressuring UN over our defensive capabilities.”

Zarif said that he views Russia and China as the future of Iran’s foreign policy.

On Tuesday, the UK, France and Germany asked the UN to investigate Iran’s missile programme, accusing Iran of developing missile technology in violation of UN resolutions. Their letter asked the UN Secretary General to: “Report fully and thoroughly on Iranian ballistic missile activity.”

The JCPOA Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by Iran and the P5+1 (UK, US, Russia, France, China and Germany). In May 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the agreement.