Zarif: JCPOA parties must...

“I should like to emphasize that the United States cannot be allowed to benefit from its unlawful withdrawal from the JCPOA, nor can it threaten or compel other States into violating a Security Council resolution,” the Iranian foreign minister pointed out.

In a speech earlier this week, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei once again warned the Europeans against standing by idly in the face of US pressure on Iran, saying that European governments cannot expect the “Iranian nation to both put up with sanctions and give up its nuclear activities and continue to observe limitations.” The Leader also ordered Iran’s national nuclear agency to prepare the ground for boosting the country’s nuclear enrichment capacity while respecting the JCPOA.

The Europeans have already taken a number of measures to protect their businesses in Iran. They wrote a letter on Wednesday to the US, calling on Washington not to go ahead with its planned “secondary sanctions” against European firms active in the Iranian market.

Pompeo’s ‘absurd demands’

Elsewhere in the letter, Zarif blasted a policy statement delivered on May 21 by US Secretary of State Pompeo, in which he repeated a series of unfounded allegations against Iran and threatened the country with the “strongest sanctions in history” if it failed to fulfill Washington’s 12-point list of demands.

“I am confident that your esteemed Government is fully aware of the falsehood of the allegations against my country and the illegality of the US Secretary of State’s demands,” Zarif wrote.

Zarif further said that Pompeo “openly threatened the rest of the world that any actor that does not cease dealing with Iran will be punished.”

Washington’s “terror support” allegations against Iran are a mere attempt to “revise history,” Zarif wrote.

“Unlike the United States and its current and former allies – such as Saddam Hussein during the 1980s – the Islamic Republic of Iran has never invaded another country and has been on the forefront of helping its neighbors – upon their requests – to fight extremist terrorists that are armed and financed by the US and its regional clients,” he added.