Iran is failing to address core issues: Gargash

France insists Tehran must talk about its regional interference

The UAE has lashed out at Iran for resorting to threats and for wasting time, saying that it should instead focus on seriously addressing regional and international concerns.

“Iran’s current crisis will not be solved by buying time, resorting to threats and applying pressure through proxies,” UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash posted on his Twitter account.

“The crisis can be solved through a comprehensive review of the concerns of the international community and the region. Such an approach would be the genuine solution to the issues in the region and to Tehran’s internal crisis.”

Gargash was commenting on the statements made by Bahram Qasemi, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, on Friday in response to warnings by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian that Iran could not avoid talks on three thorny issues. “Iran must respect the fundamentals of the JCPOA [nuclear deal] and I think that is the case,” Le Drian said on Thursday in Vienna where he attended a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

“But Iran cannot avoid discussions, negotiations on three other major subjects that worry us — the future of Iran’s nuclear commitments after 2025, the ballistic question and the fact there is a sort of ballistic proliferation on the part of Iran … and the role Iran plays to destabilise the whole region. We must talk about these three subjects, Iran must be aware of this and that’s the message I send to them from Vienna.”

However, Qasemi said there was “no reason to talk, particularly on non-negotiable issues, after all the efforts made by Iran and other major world powers are violated by France’s allies easily and tyrannically.”

UK minister visits Iran

Meanwhile, a junior British minister held talks in Iran yesterday, as Tehran said European states should take action if they wanted to save Iran’s nuclear deal after the US withdrawal from it, Iranian state media reported.

“Among issues we have with Britain as a country ... remaining in the agreement is access to banking resources and the sale of oil,” state news agency IRNA quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying.

Britain and other European signatories are trying to keep the nuclear deal alive, despite US President Donald Trump’s reimposition of sanctions on Tehran.