Iran’s potential departure from the 2015 nuclear deal and its subsequent impacts on the region’s security would prove to be disadvantageous to European governments, a foreign relations official said.
“More serious talks need to be held between Iran and major European states to discuss the future of relations,” Kamal Kharrazi, the head of Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said in a recent meeting with a delegation from NOREF, a Norwegian foundation working for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, ISNA reported.
The nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was reached between Iran and six world powers in 2015, but the United States unilaterally abandoned it last May and restored sanctions against Tehran.
The European Union, as an influential party to the agreement, has been endeavoring, though with little success, to salvage the accord.
Its proposed payment channel, known as the Special Purpose Vehicle, aimed at circumventing US sanctions through non-dollar trade is facing a delay of over two months.
Iranian officials have shown patience, while stressing that this situation cannot continue forever.
Tehran has also warned the West of a “deluge” of drugs, refugees and attacks, if US sanctions weaken Iran’s ability to contain them.
Due to its strategic location bordering Afghanistan, the world’s largest opium producer, and Pakistan, a major transit country for drugs, Iran plays a key role in the control of drug trafficking.
A United Nations report published in 2014 showed that in 2012, Iran accounted for two-thirds of the world’s opium seizures and one-fourth of the world’s heroin and morphine seizures, according to Reuters.
“We spend $800 million a year to fight drugs, which ensures the health of nations stretching from Eastern Europe to the American West and North Africa to West Asia. Imagine what a disaster there would be, if there is a breach in the dam,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech last December.
Revisiting Security Coop.
Currently, Iran has close cooperation with the EU in managing the transit of refugees and drug trafficking.
According to a report by ISNA, the country’s diplomatic apparatus, in coordination with other decision-making institutions, is considering a rethink of its policies in this regard.
“In the first phase of implementing this decision, Iran’s diplomatic system intends to end its cooperation with the EU in combating the transit of drugs and migrants,” the report said without citing any source.
Kharrazi also censured Europe for its lack of power to withstand US pressure, as in the case of JCPOA, warning that their policies “will be held hostage by the US”, if the current situation were to continue.
“Iran expected the EU to take a practical measure as a party to the nuclear deal, but they have not done anything yet under US pressure and this has had negative consequences for Iranians who have fulfilled their commitments,” he said.
Kharrazi also stressed that the White House cannot expect a change in Iran’s policies as long as it refuses to modify its Iran policies.
