The vice president for legal affairs said while the United States was violating the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, European signatories to the agreement just stood by and watched its violations.
Mohammad Dehqan made the remarks in a Monday meeting with German Ambassador in Tehran Hans-Udo Muzel, during which the two sides exchanged views on various issues, including the outlook of negotiations in the Austrian capital on the restoration of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“The US is to blame for the violation of the JCPOA and we expected Europe, especially Germany, to play an active role in this regard. The JCPOA was an international document, which had been upheld by the United Nations Security Council. Europe merely stood by and watched US violating the JCPOA. History will not judge Europeans’ conduct kindly,” the top official said, ISNA reported.
“Iran has always welcomed negotiations and has never left the negotiating table. In the past, we tried to do away with international concerns by remaining compliant with the JCPOA unilaterally. Now, we still hope that we would clinch a balanced deal after the inauguration of the new German government and through more active participation of Europeans” in Vienna talks, Dehqan added.
The JCPOA was abandoned by former US president Donald Trump in May 2018. Trump then targeted Iran’s economy with what he called a “maximum pressure” campaign, which failed to compel Tehran to negotiate a “new deal”.
Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA resumed talks in Vienna on November 29 after a five-month hiatus, marking the first round of negotiations under President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration and the seventh overall.
During the seventh round of the Vienna talks, Iran presented two draft texts which address, separately, the removal of US sanctions and Iran’s return to its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA.
Long-Standing Ties
Dehqan also pointed to the 150-year track record of cordial relations between Iran and Germany, saying that the Iranian administration’s policy is to expand ties with different countries. He also expressed hope that Iran’s relations with Germany would be strengthened.
“We want Germany, as a powerful European country, to maintain its independence, not be influenced by American unilateralism and appear as an effective player in the international arena,” the senior Iranian official pointed out.
He rejected “baseless” claims that Iran has been seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction.
“This is a baseless accusation that Iran has sought to obtain nuclear weapons. We have never been, and are not after nuclear weapons.”
He slammed European countries’ double standards when it comes to atomic weapons and said, “Europe does not care about the Zionist regime’s nuclear weapons, which endanger the security of the region.”
The German ambassador said the new government in Germany, as a non-nuclear country, will try to facilitate the conclusion of a comprehensive agreement between Iran and world powers and promote stability in relations among states.
He added that the negotiators in Vienna have returned to their capitals after reaching an agreement on how to continue the talks, expressing hope that the eighth round of the talks, which is expected to resume after New Year holidays, would result in positive outcomes.
