JCPOA defeat to endanger European security, Iran warns
A high-ranking Iranian foreign policy official has warned that Europe would risk its security by allowing a landmark international deal with Iran to unravel.
Kamal Kharrazi, who serves as the head of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said Saturday that if European signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal signed in July 2015 between Iran and world powers, drop their struggle to save the agreement in the face of US pressure, they would have to accept more US bullying in the future.
“A defeat of the JCPOA would undermine Europe’s security,” said Kharazi while meeting an Italian delegation in Tehran.
The seasoned Iranian diplomat, who served as foreign minister from 1997 to 2005, said that Britain, France and Germany, as European signatories to the JCPOA, had to learn from Russia and China, the other parties to the agreement alongside the US, how to resist Washington’s pressure on the issue.
Kharrazi said it was “unacceptable” for Iran to hear excuses from European countries that they could not influence their companies to engage in business with Iran.
“If the European governments knew they had no influence on their companies, why they began negotiating with Iran?” he asked.
European parties to the JCPOA have vowed to preserve the deal by establishing a Special Payment Vehicle (SPV) to circumvent US sanctions on Iran and to facilitate trade with the country.
Kharrazi said, however, that the Europeans’ repeated delays in the implementation of the SPV meant that “one cannot trust their signature” on the JCPOA.
“Iran has a legitimate right to look forward for Europe’s practical step to enjoy the economic benefits of the nuclear deal,” he said.
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