Iran pushes for EU guarantees as diplomats meet in Vienna
…from Press TV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: It is showdown time between the US, Iran and the EU. Iran has taken the initiative to give no wiggle room for the EU partners. They either stay in the deal or are out with the US –meaning they cannot have Iran trade business unless the EU guarantees it will not succumb to US pressure.
It is also closing the door on the EU’s “renegotiation light” position of pressuring Iran to accept allowing its strategic defense decisions – for instance, about its missiles – to be made in Washington. That this is even being discussed when Israel is the rogue nuclear Mid East power, without even a whimper from the US and EU, is telling.
If the EU sides with the US, that will show it has accepted being a virtual colony of the US due to its veto power over EU foreign policy. Israel in the background is continuing its claim that anyone with a credible “defense” will be deemed a security risk to the Zionist regime.
EU independence is a growing domestic political concern in Europe, and it does not need anymore domestic instability at this time. We have seen Italy and France get out in front by strongly hinting that it is time for the Russian sanctions to be dropped as counterproductive to the EU’s interests. It needs Russia and China trade long term to balance out the US using its financial muscle.
Just this week, Germany settled the pricing issue on Gazprom gas, clearing the way for EU countries to resell Russian gas. Gazprom widely made the concessions itself, wanting to put monopolization of supply and price concerns to bed, with the US pounding at the EU’s door demanding that it buy more expensive US LNG.
Trump-Israel and the NeoCons are on a full-scale assault of friends and foes alike. In a normal world, that would push all those targeted into one big defensive coalition. We shall see if something real emerges, or just a token one… Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … May 25, 2018 –
Top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi has said Iran will decide soon whether to stay in the 2015 nuclear deal as he urged the Europeans to guarantee Tehran’s interests under the accord after the US withdrawal.
Araqchi arrived in Vienna on Friday to meet his counterparts from Europe to discuss the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after President Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement to leave it.
“We are yet to decide whether we will stay in the JCPOA or leave it and this depends on how the other members can compensate one member’s exit,” the Fars news agency quoted Araqchi as saying.
“The Europeans must specifically tell us how they can guarantee Iran’s interests in the deal in the absence of the US and its re-imposition of sanctions,” he added.
Since Trump’s May 8 decision to quit the JCPOA, other signatories of the deal — the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany– have had a tough task on their hands to preserve it.
Araqchi said, “The US is no longer viewed by us and other signatories as a member of the JCPOA and we will see in our Joint Commission meetings how the JCPOA can survive without America.”
He said Iran and the Europeans had already discussed the sanctions and their effects on different sectors, including energy, automotive industry, transportation, aviation, banking and insurance.
Another Iranian official said Iran expects European powers to give it a package of economic measures by the end of the month to compensate Washington’s withdrawal.
“We expect the package to be given to us by the end of May,” he said, adding, “I’m sorry to say that we haven’t seen the Plan B yet. The Plan B has just started to be figured out.”
The official said the deal has been put “in intensive care” by Washington’s dramatic withdrawal. “We have now a deal which is in the intensive care unit, it’s dying.”
While Russia and China have expressed unshakable support for the deal, the other three European governments have been torn between pleasing the US as a key ally and protecting their own interests in the profitable Iranian markets.
Trump has said he would reinstate all nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted under the deal, vowing to punish companies and countries that violate those and the harsher bans that will follow them shortly.
Iran needs solid guarantees
Iran says it will hold to its end of the deal for now but has doubts whether the Europeans can provide the solid guarantees that it has requested to salvage it.
“I am personally maybe not optimistic but… I am trying my best to come to a conclusion,” the Iranian official said.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Thursday that Iran does not seek a confrontation with Europe, but the UK, France and Germany have shown in the past that they would follow the US whenever it comes to sensitive issues.
The Leader also set out conditions for Tehran to stay in the nuclear deal with world powers, including steps by European banks to safeguard trade with Tehran after the US withdrawal from the agreement.
Ayatollah Khamenei added that European powers must protect Iranian oil sales from US pressure and continue buying Iranian crude, and must also promise they would not seek new negotiations on Iran’s missile program and regional activities.
The Iranian official said on Friday: “We don’t have enough time. We expect today to take a unified position against the withdrawal of the United States and compensate for the US absence in the deal.”
“If not we would go for a ministerial (meeting) and after that if Iran is still not satisfied we would take the decision.”
The US Treasury announced more sanctions on Thursday on several Iranian and Turkish companies and a number of aircraft in a move targeting four Iranian airlines.
That came even as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) once again confirmed Iran’s commitment to the JCPOA in a new report on Thursday.
The report, seen by AFP, called on Iran to remain compliant with the JCPOA and even go beyond its legal obligations in order to boost international confidence in Tehran’s commitments.
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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John Z
Germany, Japan and, S. Korea are vassal states of the US MIC. This is a fact. They are permanetly occupied territory. Tell me how they are independent?
The problem is the USA has many people that are “too stupid to live” that actually believed Shrub we he said, “They hate us because they hate freedom”.
This is exactly the correct position for Iran to take. The U.S. is like the lowest deadbeat who refuses to pay rent while still living in a unit or reneges on a contract to pay for a car or home or refuses to pay a monthly charge account bill. No person, no business and no country can simply renege on a contract without serious consequences. Lower the credit rating of the Israel lovers running the U.S. to a big ZERO. Boycott these worthless gangsters and crooks who think they can do as they please in the world. Do not sell or buy anything from the U.S. Do not deal in the dollar. The U.S. today is bankrupt morally and fiscally. It going the way of Rome. Best for the EU to tell the U.S. to SHOVE IT and boot them out of all their worthless bases in Europe. The U.S. could collapse at any instant without warning. Let us all hope and pray it does before Israel lover liar con artist draft dodger Trump starts WWIII and destroys the world. Stick to your guns Iran. I had a top doctor a few years ago from Iran at the Cleveland Clinic the top hospital in the world. Shame on the gutless cowards in the U.S. and Israel for seeking to shame the great country of Iran.
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