Europe oil shy despite US waivers, says Iran

Tehran dismisses EU missile concerns

TEHRAN, Iran, Feb 5, (Agencies): Iran says European nations have not responded to its offers to sell them crude oil despite having US waivers.

The semi-official Fars news agency on Tuesday quoted Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying “we have called them many times, but they do not return our calls.” He did not name the oil importers, but appeared to be referring to Greece and Italy, which were among eight nations granted waivers to import Iranian oil when the US restored sanctions in November.

The US began ramping up sanctions after President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers last year. Oil exports are a key source of revenue for Iran. The temporary waivers were intended to give countries more time to comply with the sanctions.

Iran, meanwhile, dismissed European Union criticism of its missile programme, regional policies and rights record on Tuesday, highlighting their increasingly testy relationship as both sides seek to salvage a troubled nuclear deal.

Iran’s comments came a day after the bloc criticised the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile tests and expressed concern at Iran’s role in growing Middle East tensions.

The European Union has promised to abide by a 2015 nuclear deal under which Iran agreed to limit its atomic work in exchange for sanctions relief, even after Trump abandoned the accord because it did not cover Iranian military activities.

Criticism

The EU has stepped up criticism of Iran’s ballistic missiles programme and its regional policies in a dual-track approach analysts say is designed to show Washington it is possible to contain Tehran while remaining inside the nuclear pact.

The Iranian foreign ministry said on Tuesday Iran would never negotiate over its missile programme, which it said was defensive and designed as a deterrent.

“Clear threats against the Islamic Republic are not constructive, efficient or helpful, and they are not in line with regional security and the real interests of Europe,” the foreign ministry said in a statement published on its website.

Iran has expanded its missile programme in the last two decades, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of the United States and concern by European countries, especially France.

As part of EU efforts to sustain the nuclear pact, Britain, France and Germany last week launched the Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), a system to facilitate nondollar trade with Iran and avoid US sanctions.

Iran’s foreign ministry welcomed the new channel, but said it was “late and inadequate”. Iran would revise relations with Europe if it did not benefit economically from INSTEX, it said.

The EU also urged Tehran to stop activities that deepened mistrust, including what it called Iranian assassination plots. France, Denmark and The Netherlands have accused Iran of attacks against Iranian opposition figures and arrested suspects with links to Iranian embassies and intelligence ministry.

Iran’s foreign ministry rejected the EU warning:

“Raising such baseless and hollow accusations while known terrorist and criminal groups are free in Europe, is not constructive at this stage and is in line with the goals of enemies who seek to undermine Iran’s relations with Europe.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Trump’s expressed wish to keep US forces in Iraq in order

to monitor neighboring Iran has exposed American “lies” about fighting terrorism.

In a recent interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Trump said the US has an “incredible base” in Iraq that he intends to keep, “because I want to be able to watch Iran.”

Addressing Trump with sarcasm in remarks carried by official media, Rouhani said: “You say you stay in Iraq to watch Iran, while before that you were saying you stay there for fighting terrorism. It is so nice that you honestly expressed yourself!”

“You are in Afghanistan for the same purpose,” Rouhani added. “You want to watch, whether Iran or Russia and China.”

Iraq’s president also rejected Trump’s remarks, saying the US does not have permission to use the country as a listening station.

Trump has adopted a hard line on Iran, accusing it of sowing chaos across the region through its proxies in Iraq and other countries. Last year, he withdrew the US from Iran’s landmark 2015 nuclear accord with world powers and restored economic sanctions.

Rouhani said the US would never again dominate Iran in the way it did before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when the country was ruled by a USbacked monarchy. Iranians are currently marking the 40th anniversary of the uprising, which brought antiAmerican clerics to power. “It is impossible for you to take Iran back to 40 years ago. We will never go back to the era of American domination,” he said.

Iraq’s president hit back at Trump Monday for saying US troops should stay in Iraq to keep an eye on neighboring Iran, saying the US leader did not ask for Iraq’s permission to do so.

“We find these comments strange,” said Barham Salih, speaking at a forum in Baghdad.

Trump’s comments added to concerns in Iraq about America’s longterm intentions, particularly after it withdraws its troops from Syria. Trump has angered Iraqi politicians and Iranian-backed factions by arguing he would keep US troops in Iraq and use it as a base to strike Islamic State group targets inside Syria as needed.

“He didn’t ask Iraq about this,” Salih said Monday. He said US troops were in Iraq as part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific mission of assisting in the fight against the Islamic State group and combatting “terrorism.” He said the Iraqi constitution forbids the use of Iraq as a base to threaten the interests or security of neighboring countries.

“Don’t overburden Iraq with your own issues,” he added.

In the CBS interview, Trump said the US has an “incredible base” in Iraq that he intends to keep, “because I want to be able to watch Iran.”

“We spent a fortune on building this incredible base,” Trump said. “We might as well keep it. And one of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem.”

He said the US base in Iraq is “perfectly situated for looking at all over different parts of the troubled Middle East.”