EU Siding with Iran against US: President Rouhani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani highlighted the country’s political achievements in the international arena following the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and said the European Union has sided with Tehran against Washington.
Iran has been successful politically and legally in international institutions and before the eyes of the world, Rouhani said during a speech at the University of Tehran on Sunday.
He further pointed to his recent meetings with EU leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and said the prime minister of “an important European country” told him that five years ago, any move by the EU to side with Iran against the United States seemed impossible because the EU and the US were close allies.
“Such an issue that seemed impossible has become possible today, and the European Union has stood against the US,” Rouhani said.
He went on to say that just a day before Trump held a UN Security Council meeting against Iran, the European Union, China and Russia held talks against the US, and this is nothing trivial.
On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
US President Donald Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.
He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country.
Trump also restated his opinion that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was a “horrible, one-sided deal”.
The European Union has vowed to counter Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures.