Larijani: Europeans will benefit from independent role vs. US
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said playing a more independent role in the face of US adventurism will benefit all European countries as policies adopted by US President Donald Trump have caused problems for the entire world.
“The behavior of the US president has caused problems not only for Iran, but also for Europeans, and has led to bewildering conditions at international level,” Larijani said in a meeting on Monday with former German foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, in Tehran, Press TV reported.
“It is felt that this situation will lead to security disruption in the world and will continue if Europe fails to play an independent role” in the face of the United States, Iran’s top parliamentarian said.
Larijani emphasized that Iran and Europeans managed to boost their economic cooperation after the conclusion of the multilateral 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but Trump’s decision to withdraw from it and reimpose sanctions on Tehran caused problems for all parties to the accord.
Trump’s administration announced on November 5 the reimposition of the “toughest” sanctions ever against Iran’s banking and energy sectors with the aim of cutting off the country’s oil sales and crucial exports. The bans had been lifted under the nuclear deal, signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.
A first round of American sanctions took effect in August, targeting Iran’s access to the US dollar, metals trading, coal, industrial software, and auto sector.
Despite Washington’s withdrawal, Iran has not left the deal yet, but stressed that the remaining signatories to the agreement have to work to offset the negative impacts of the US pullout for Iran if they wanted Tehran to remain in it.
The other parties to the JCPOA have repeatedly announced that the deal is working and should stay in place.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani noted that it would benefit all European countries, if they could play a more independent role in international developments.
“Independence of Europe is better than allowing a country like America to act in an irrational manner at international level,” the Iranian Parliament speaker pointed out, adding that the creation of another power pole in the world that would act reasonably would benefit global security as well.
The former German foreign minister said European countries, particularly Germany and France, are resolute on maintaining the JCPOA and its achievements.
Europeans do not agree with all US policies and have different views about confronting Washington’s approaches, Gabriel added.
He emphasized that many small- and medium-sized enterprises in Germany are independent of the United States and are keen to cooperate with Iran.