Zarif: No Balance between EU Measures, JCPOA Commitments
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The European parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have fallen way below expectations in meeting their commitments under the accord, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, urging them to at least guarantee Iran’s oil sale and access to its petrodollars for now.
The measures that the Europeans have taken so far to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have not been proportional to their commitments at all, Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet session on Wednesday, reminding Europe that it must honor its commitments if it wants its expectations from Iran to be satisfied.
“Among the (EU) commitments are (guaranteeing) the sale of Iranian oil and return of oil incomes (to Iran). We ignore their other commitments, such as investment in Iran, for now. They ought to carry out (plans to secure) oil sales and return of oil revenues to Iran, and then hold expectations,” Zarif added.
He also said that the European payment channel for trade with Iran, known as INSTEX, which was supposed to be a primary step in the fulfillment of European commitments, has not been fully operational.
INSTEX will be deemed operational only when it contains Iran’s petrodollars, Zarif stressed.
The foreign minister went on to say that Europe’s failure to honor its JCPOA commitments is tantamount to partnership with the US economic terrorism against Iran.
INSTEX is a payment channel that France, Germany and Britain - the three European signatories to the JCPOA - have devised to continue trade with Tehran and bypass the US embargoes.
The European payment channel, however, has not brought about any change in Iran’s foreign trade.
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, a 159-page nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) came into force in January 2016.
Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments under JCPOA, including a rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iran maintains that the new measures are not designed to harm the JCPOA but to save the accord by creating a balance in the commitments.
