Speaking to Mehr correspondent on Monday, Momeni said the European sides to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), namely the UK, France, Germany and the EU, are only biding their time to see what happens in the future.
“The Europeans are waiting for the result of the US 2020 election in order to base their final decision on it. I am fully confident that if Donald Trump wins a second term, EU will leave the nuclear deal,” he said.
Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran which had been lifted under the agreement. The remaining sides to the deal – UK, France, China, Russia plus Germany and the EU – have been trying to persuade Iran to stay in the deal by offering an alternative trade mechanism, and most recently, a $15 billion credit line.
Momeni said, however, that both proposals have not become operational yet, and neither of them seem to be of much use to Iran, anyway.
“Europeans have not taken any tangible and positive measures to safeguard Iran’s interests under the JCPOA. It seems like they are only seeking for an excuse to put the blame on Iran for failing to live up to its commitments,” he added.
“From what we have seen so far, I doubt the European sides would do anything useful in the third 60-day deadline Iran has given them,” he said, referring to Iran’s step-by-step cuts to its commitments to the JCPOA as a countermeasure to US’ withdrawal and EU’s continued failure to shield Iran from US sanctions.
- source : Mehrnews
