Iran to keep pressuring the Europeans to fulfill their commitments under the nuclear deal

Tabnak – While the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has once again confirmed Iran’s compliance to its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, the European parties of the deal are yet to fulfill their own obligation in terms of providing Iran with the promised economic benefits. Being dissatisfied over this issues, Iran is continuing to pressure the Europeans in this regard.

In this vein, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran is keeping pressure on the European parties to fulfill their commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, stressing that Europeans could not shirk their obligations with a few unperformed plans.

In an interview with Khamenei.ir on Wednesday, Zarif underlined that Tehran will be keeping pressure on the European parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to honor their commitments. “Europe must know that it could not shirk its responsibilities with only a number of comments or a few unimplemented plans,” the top Iranian diplomat noted.

Zarif said while the Foreign Ministry continues to warn Europe and pressurize it to carry out its undertakings, Iran will never pin its hopes on Europe. “Europeans considered the JCPOA as an achievement from the beginning, but maybe they are not prepared, and definitely lacking enough power, to stand against the US sanctions (on Iran),” he added.

Citing Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s comments about Europe’s insufficient efforts for saving the JCPOA, Zarif said Europe was not prepared to pay the price for something with strategic importance, as they claim themselves.

In the same vein, the Iranian foreign minister has hit out at the three European powers for failing to counter the US “economic terrorism” against Tehran, saying they are instead turning the spotlight on the Islamic Republic’s missile program to appease Washington.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Mohammad Javad Zarif pointed to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and lamented the EU trio’s failure to show a political will against Washington’s pressures.

“A year after US' 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,” said the tweet.

Zarif said the UK, France and Germany would rather seek to appease Trump by pressuring the UN to provide a report on Iran’s missile activities than defy Washington’s measures. “E3 are instead busy appeasing @realDonaldTrump by pressuring UN over our defensive capabilities,” the tweet added.

Meanwhile, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano has reaffirmed that Iran has fulfilled its commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In an interview with CBS News, Amano confirmed that Iran is sticking to the 2015 nuclear deal. "I don't see activities that are contrary to the Iran nuclear agreement ... but we need to monitor very, very carefully," Amano said.

Amano added that the agency's "inspectors have had access to all the sites and locations in Iran which they needed to visit." "So far they are implementing" the agreement, Amano stressed. He also noted that the US is "a very important country, so, of course, it (the US withdrawal) has impact."

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which 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).