Tehran Warn U.S., Allies About Waging 'Economic War' Against Iran
Iranian President Hassan Rohani has said during a meeting in Tehran with Germany's foreign minister that Iran thinks the nuclear deal it struck with world powers in 2015 is worth saving despite current tensions.
"We still believe in saving the deal, and Germany and the EU can play a decisive and positive role in this process," Rohani's office quoted him as saying during his June 10 meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned after his talks with Maas that countries waging an "economic war" against Iran by conducting and supporting U.S. sanctions cannot expect to "remain safe."
"One cannot expect an economic war to continue against the Iranian people and that those waging this war and those supporting it remain safe," Zarif said on June 10.
Zarif said U.S. President Donald Trump "himself has announced that the U.S. has launched an economic war against Iran" after Washington in 2018 unilaterally withdrew from the agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from building nuclear weapons.
"Whoever stars a war with us will not be the one who finishes it," he said.
"The only way to decrease tensions in the region is to stop the economic war," Zarif said, adding that Germany and the European Union could have an "important role" to play in defusing the tensions.
For his part, Maas said Germany and other European countries want to find a way to salvage the deal. But he said there were limits.
"We won't be able to do miracles, but we are trying as best as we can do to prevent its failure," Maas said.
"There is war in Syria and in Yemen, fortunately not here," Maas said. "We want to do everything we can to keep it that way" for Iran.
"Nevertheless, the tensions here in the region are worrying, and we fear that single events can trigger developments that end in violence, and we want to prevent this under all circumstances."
Ahead of his trip, the German minister expressed hope that the talks would help both sides find "constructive ways" to preserve the Iran nuclear agreement, while Zarif said he wanted to know "what exactly the partners have achieved to rescue" the accord. https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-says-europe-in-no-position-to-criticize-its-military-capabilities/29989577.html
The Western European signatories to the nuclear pact -- France, Britain, and Germany -- have been trying to salvage it after the United States withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran's economy.
Trump argued that the terms of the agreement were not tough enough to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and that the accord did not address the country's ballistic-missile program or its role in conflicts around the Middle East.
The European signatories of the deal share the same concerns as Washington over Iran's ballistic-missile development and regional activities.
Maas called Iran's ballistic-missile program problematic during a visit to the United Arab Emirates on June 9.
In response, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Musavi said that European officials "are not in a position to question Iran's issues beyond the nuclear deal."
Iran denies it supports insurgent activity and says its nuclear program has been strictly for civilian energy purposes.
In May, Tehran announced it was suspending several commitments under the nuclear deal, and threatened to step up uranium enrichment if European countries did not act to protect it from the effects of the U.S. sanctions.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington and its allies in the Persian Gulf have flared up in recent weeks, with the United States beefing up its military presence in the Middle East, citing "imminent threats" from Iran.
Tehran has rejected the U.S. allegation.
In Vienna, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said on June 10 that Iran had followed through on a threat to accelerate its production of enriched uranium.
Departing from his usual guarded language, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano also said he was "worried about increasing tensions" over Iran's nuclear program.
"I...hope that ways can be found to reduce current tensions through dialogue," Amano said as he opened a meeting of the agency's board of governors.