US use of sanctions threat to its own economic power: Zarif

reporter 1222 — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 08:30:55 +0000

Making the remarks after his meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart in Dhaka, Zarif told reporters that “Americans are get addicted to imposition of sanctions but their sanctions have no impacts and gradually the world is making fun of them. The US has sanctioned different countries and takes a new measure against a government every day. No choice is left for Americans other than imposing sanctions on their own selves.”

He warned that the US excessive use of sanctions is turning to an ever-increasing threat to the country’s own economy.

Answering a question about the remarks of the recent French President and those of Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying “Europe should either purchase Iran’s oil, or provide us with a $15 billion letter of credit, which can in fact be considered as pre-purchasing our oil,” Zarif said that “we hold talks with Europeans because from among the parties remained in JCPOA, we have good relations with China and Russia and we will continue them but the Europeans have not been successful in preserving their economic ties with us and fulfill their commitments.”

He added that it is an understandable but a misfortune that the Europeans need to have the US permission for taking any measure but in fact the US have no legal power to stop Europeans from fulfilling their commitments.

Describing about Iran’s decision of scaling back its JCPOA commitments, the Iranian FM said “in President Rouhani’s letter to the UN security council and that of mine to Mrs. Mogherini on May 8, 2019, we had highlighted that Iran has met its commitments under the section 36 of the nuclear deal and that we will commence reducing measures in a framework of a pre-planned program; however, we have always said that we are open to conducting negotiations at any given time.”

He noted that Iran tries to preserve the JCPOA adding that “in case the other side modifies its measures and returns to JCPOA, Iran will go back to the starting point before reducing commitments.”

Speaking about his visit to Bangladesh, Zarif evaluated his meetings with the country’s PM and FM as fruitful announcing that the pivotal point of the mutual talks revolved around issues of the Islamic world and the necessity of cooperation among Muslim countries.

He noted that bilateral financial transactions between Iran and Bangladesh is possible without using US dollar and the two sides are intended to expand ties in technological sector an swap of goods.

The United States has imposed new sanctions on Iran this time to target its space program.

The Trump administration introduced the illegal sanctions Tuesday as Washington continued its campaign of “maximum pressure” against Tehran and, seeking rise in tensions in the region.

The country’s space program and two of its research institutes have been sanctioned, according to hawkish Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“The United States will not allow Iran to use its space launch program as cover to advance its ballistic missile programs. Iran’s August 29 attempt to launch a space launch vehicle underscores the urgency of the threat,” claimed the former CIA chief.

He further alleged that “these designations should serve as a warning to the international scientific community that collaborating with Iran’s space program could contribute to Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon delivery system.”

Washington claims that the measure is aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Tehran has maintained that its nuclear and space programs are strictly for peaceful purposes.

The post US use of sanctions threat to its own economic power: Zarif appeared first on Iran News Daily.

ICT min. reacts to US new sanctions on Iran’s space program

reporter 1222 — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 07:30:20 +0000

The ICT Minister posted a photo of the galaxy on his Twitter account on Wednesday and wrote, “I can’t even locate the US in this picture, let alone sanctions on Space!”

“The universe and bright future belong to everyone, not to a few,” he added.

He also ridiculed US President Donald Trump for his recent tweets against Iran, saying “Stop imitating Thanos [a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books] Donald Trump!”