Borrell made the remarks as he was reacting to a speech by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa at a virtual meeting of the terrorist Mojahedin-e-Khalq, which drew strong criticism by Tehran.

The EU’s chief diplomat said the remarks by the Slovenian prime minister does not represent the official position of the European bloc.

Jansa, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, made controversial remarks against Iran at the meeting. His remarks and his participation at the meeting drew a strong criticism from Iran.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry described the Slovenian prime minister’s move as “unacceptable and undiplomatic.”

In addition to the Slovenian leader, Iran hawks like Congressman Ted Cruz and former U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo addressed the conference held this year in Berlin.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh earlier denounced the presence of Western politicians in the virtual event, saying they “sell themselves cheap for a Europe-hosted circus arranged by a once Saddam-backed terrorist cult with Iranian blood on its hands.”

In a phone call with Borrell on Sunday evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif asked for a clarification of the EU’s stance regarding Jansa’s “unacceptable participation” at the gathering and his “imprudent remarks”.

Borrell said he had told Zarif that “in our institutional setting, the position of a prime minister — even if he’s from the country that holds the rotating Council presidency — does not represent the position of the European Union.”

“Foreign policy remains a competency of [EU] member states and each member state can have the opinion that it sees fit for each issue of international politics. … For me it’s only up to say whether this position [by Jansa] … represents the European Union. And certainly it does not,” he added.

The EU foreign policy chief further stressed that only the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, could represent the EU at the level of heads of state and government.

“I have nothing to say about the opinions of the Slovenian prime minister,” Borrell said. “It’s his responsibility, but he does not represent the European Union.”

MEK’s unpopularity among the Iranians stems from two things: First, the group had been implicated in many terrorist attacks and assassinations in Iran in the 1980s. Second, while the group was going on a killing spree in Iran, its leaders colluded with Iran’s number one nemesis, Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq who gave them many military bases near Baghdad. With the military support of Saddam, MEK mounted a devastating military attack on Iran that led to its forever eradication in the country. Iranians have never forgotten, nor have they forgiven, this act of treason by MEK.

In addition, over the past few years, the group has faced growing accusations of receiving money from Saudi Arabia.

The MKO’s annual rallies often feature pro-Saudi speakers and sometimes even Saudi officials. For instance, Turki al-Faisal, a Saudi prince, former intelligence chief and key diplomat addressed the group’s rallies in Paris in 2016 and 2017, prompting accusations from Tehran that Riyadh supports terrorism.

Salman al-Ansari, president of the Saudi American Public Relations Affairs Committee, a pro-Riyadh lobby group in Washington, also spoke at the MKO conference in Albania on 13 July, 2019.

He was repeatedly interrupted by cheers from the group’s supporters as he bashed Iran in both Arabic and Farsi.

In an article published in 2018, Al Bawaba revealed that three tons of gold ingots and four suitcases of Rolex watches were given to the MKO by the Saudis when the group was still in Iraq.

Gold and other valuable commodities were later sold in black markets in the Jordanian capital, Amman, via Saudi-linked businessmen and the money went to offshore accounts linked to the MKO. The Saudis have in fact been supporting the MKO since Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran, as the group provided the Iraqi dictator with intelligence and military support, according to Press TV.

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EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the Munich Security Conference on Sunday Iranians had asked the bloc, France, Germany, and Britain to abide by their commitments under 2015 after the US pulled out of in May 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran, Euronews reported.

He said Iran had stuck to its own side of the bargain for at least 14 months in the wake of the US exit from the deal.

The top diplomat said Iran is no longer committed to its nuclear commitments and the Europeans must accept that they have not been successful in fulfilling their obligations.

Iran signed the nuclear agreement with six world powers— namely the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia, and China — in 2015. The deal was also ratified in the form of a UN Security Council resolution.

Tehran remained fully compliant with the nuclear agreement, known as the JCPOA, for an entire year after the US withdrawal, waiting for the European signatories to the deal to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of American bans on the Iranian economy.

Since May 2019, Iran has progressively scaled back commitments in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the agreement in response to the US sanctions and Europe’s inability to circumvent them.

Iran says it is now producing uranium enriched beyond the 3.67 percent set by the agreement, and no longer adheres to the limit of 300 kilograms imposed on its enriched uranium stocks. It has also resumed research and development that was restricted under the deal.

In his Sunday’s speech, Borrell took a swipe at the US for its “unilateral” pullout and said it is not his job to convince the Americans to return to the deal but he tries to preserve the JCPOA through a financial mechanism that eases non-dollar trade with Iran.

Borrell admitted that his efforts have so far failed to bear fruit.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed Iran’s readiness to reverse its retaliatory measures if Europe provides “meaningful” economic benefits to the country.

“We have said that we are prepared to slow down or reverse these measures commensurate with what Europe does,” he told reporters at the 56th Munich Security Conference.

“We will decide whether what Europe does is sufficient to slow down or to reverse some steps — we have not even ruled out reversing some of the steps that we have taken,” Zarif added.

Europe set up a special trading mechanism called INSTEX to enable legitimate humanitarian trade with Iran after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal.

However, despite repeated promises by the EU to make the mechanism operational, it has yet to complete any transactions.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – European Union governments need to be willing to intervene in international crises or risk prolonging paralysis in their foreign policy, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Sunday.

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“Met with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on the margins of @MunSecConf. Discussions included #MEPP and #JCPOA – as a coordinator I remain committed to listen to all sides and keep the #NuclearDeal alive,” Borrell tweeted late on Saturday after meeting Lavrov in Munich and talking about 2015 deal of Iran.

Lavrov’s meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif also took place on the sidelines of the Munich conference on Saturday. The two foreign ministers discussed the strengthening of mutual cooperation, among other issues.

“An in-depth exchange of views also took place on a number of issues on the international agenda, including the situation in Syria and issues related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement after the meeting.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, but the three EU parties to the deal – France, Britain and Germany – have failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

The EU’s inaction forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments to the nuclear deal.

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.

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“We are in agreement not to go directly to a strict time limit which would oblige (us) to go to the Security Council,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, told reporters during a visit to the Iranian capital.

In his remarks, broadcast on Tuesday, he said, “The willingness is not to start a process that goes to the end of JCPOA, but to keep it alive,” referring to the Iran deal by its formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Britain, France, and Germany formally accused Iran on Jan. 14 of violating the terms of the 2015 arms control agreement aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program. In January, the trio triggered a complaint mechanism to bring back to full implementation of the deal.

The mechanism could lead to the restoration of all sanctions that were lifted by the UNSC, but, for now, the Europeans say they are keen on getting Iran back on board rather than reimpose sanctions.

Borrell, who is chair of the Iran deal, was notified in January by Paris, London, and Berlin that they had triggered the dispute mechanism, in theory starting a 15-day process to resolve issues with Iran.

China and Russia are also signatories to the deal signed in Vienna in 2015 and have expressed misgivings about the Europeans’ decision to trigger the mechanism.

All sides say they want to save the deal, which US President Donald Trump withdrew from in May 2018, reimposing economic sanctions on Iran.

Borrell said he had agreed with Berlin, London and Paris to “continuously postpone” the 15-day limit. However, he said progress depended on maintaining the presence of the UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Iran to monitor its nuclear activities.

Meeting Borrell on Monday, President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran is ready to cooperate with the EU on issues related to the nuclear deal.

“Whenever the other side lives up to its commitments completely, Iran is ready to return to its commitments,” Rouhani said.

Since May 2019, Iran has progressively scaled back commitments in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the agreement in response to the US sanctions and Europe’s inability to circumvent them.

Iran says it is now producing uranium enriched beyond the 3.67 percent set by the agreement, and no longer adheres to the limit of 300 kilograms imposed on its enriched uranium stocks.

It has also resumed research and development that was restricted under the deal.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani also met Borrell on Monday. Larijani criticized EU’s “weak” stance on the US withdrawal from the deal.

Reuters and AFP contributed to this story.

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“While appreciating @FedericaMog’s moderate and sensible positions on Iran & congratulating the appointment of @JosepBorrellF, hope to witness the development of our relations with the EU and the consolidation of multilateralism and rule of law in the International Arena,” Mousavi said on his Twitter account on Monday night.

Borrell on Sunday assumed the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, replacing Mogherini, who served from 2014 to 2019.

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