SAEDNEWS: Zarif described the actions of the three European countries in activating the trigger mechanism as baseless, and said Iran fully adhered to the JCPOA even one year after Donald Trump, the US President, left the agreement, while it was the Europeans who failed to fulfill their commitments.
Zarif described the actions of the three European countries in activating the trigger mechanism as baseless, and said Iran fully adhered to the JCPOA even one year after Donald Trump, the US President, left the agreement, while it was the Europeans who failed to fulfill their commitments.
According to the political service of the news website Saed News, in an interview with Foreign Policy, Mohammad Javad Zarif, regarding the action of the three European countries in activating the so-called “snapback” mechanism, stated: We should not mix domestic and foreign policy. I think what the three European countries (E3) are trying to do is, first of all, baseless, because Iran fully adhered to the JCPOA even one year after Donald Trump, the US President, left the agreement.
He continued: Europe failed to fulfill its commitments. After Trump left the JCPOA, the Europeans asked us to remain in the agreement. They gave me 11 commitments in two meetings, in June and September 2018. They could not even implement a single one of these commitments. They decided to create a 19th-century-style agreement with Iran. They could not even accomplish this.
Zarif emphasized: Now I do not know what audacity the European countries have to want to use the dispute resolution mechanism. In the JCPOA or the UN Security Council, it is not called a snapback; it is called a dispute resolution mechanism. Iran, while I was Foreign Minister, repeatedly resorted to the dispute resolution mechanism. We went through the whole process. The Europeans promised to implement some of their commitments, let alone the commitments of the United States, and they failed. That is why we took compensatory actions. Legally, they cannot take compensatory actions against Iran’s compensatory measures.
The former Foreign Minister of Iran criticized the double standards of Europe and the United States regarding the JCPOA, saying: The timing of this is also interesting, because a few weeks ago, the Europeans essentially praised Israel’s violation of international law by attacking Iranian sites. The German Chancellor said that Israel is “doing a dirty job for all of us.” Which option are they talking about? They use war first, then diplomacy, then mechanisms for dispute resolution. This shows bad faith.
Zarif added that Trump’s exit from the JCPOA did not make the US, Europe, or the world safer: They are trying to support Israel. Some of them, including the three European countries trying to use this mechanism, even went so far as to call the use of this mechanism self-defense. They need to reconsider their policies and see what benefit it brings them.
Regarding the 12-day Iran conflict, the former Foreign Minister said: The 12-day war occurred just two days before my colleagues in the Foreign Ministry were scheduled to begin a new round of talks with their American counterparts. This war created an image in Iran that negotiations were merely an excuse for the US to attack, which is very destructive. I believe in diplomacy, and this was extremely damaging to diplomacy in general.
He continued: This was a premeditated attack, not only against military and nuclear targets, but also against innocent civilians. Many innocent civilians were killed. Military leaders were not targeted at their offices or at the frontlines, but at home with their families. According to international law, this is a war crime. Nuclear scientists and other scientists were killed simply because they were scientists. This is a very dangerous precedent.
Zarif emphasized: Iran was harmed in this attack. It was an aggression, and all aggressions usually harm the victim. But the myth of Israel’s invincibility was broken. Iran has been under sanctions for 40 years; no one sells military equipment to Iran. Yet, despite all this, Iran managed to break Israel’s Iron Dome and strike Israeli military targets using only missiles, drones, and cruise missiles from Iran. We were harmed, but we demonstrated one important point: Iran is not easy prey. Israel and the US united as two nuclear powers to attack Iran, and in the end, Iran stood proud. This is a major achievement for Iran.
He added: The existential threat to Israel is peace. That is why Israel objected to the JCPOA. The JCPOA that I negotiated could have been safe and verifiable to ensure Iran would not produce a nuclear bomb. Why did Israel object? Because it would create calm in our neighboring region.
Referring to Trump’s efforts to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Zarif said: Bombing Iran was certainly not a way to be a peaceful president, and the bombing occurred right in the middle of negotiations by the US envoy! Who will trust the US from now on? Who will try to negotiate with the US? Because of what Trump did, I can hardly convince the Iranian people that diplomacy is worth trying.
