Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged European countries on Sunday to avoid “any threat or pressure” in negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program, during a meeting with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney.
Since the arrival of Joe Biden to the American presidency, Washington, the European parties (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Editor’s note) and Tehran have been trying to save the agreement reached in Vienna in 2015, which granted Iran relief international sanctions in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.
This agreement is likely to be shattered since the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018 by former President Donald Trump, who reimposed punitive sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“The best way to solve the problems with the European partners at various bilateral, regional and international levels are negotiations based on mutual respect and avoiding any threat or pressure”, said Mr. Rohani, during the meeting, according to a press release from the Iranian presidency.
Rohani renewed his criticism of “Europe’s inactivity with respect to the commitments” of the agreement, adding that Iran had pledged to “preserve” it as “the only party to have it. paid the price ”.
This declaration comes a few days after Germany, France and Great Britain abandoned a draft resolution denouncing Tehran to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear policeman.
Tehran on Thursday welcomed this decision which made it possible to keep “open the way for diplomacy” on the Iranian nuclear issue.
On February 23, Iran began restricting some IAEA inspections, after the deadline set by its parliament for the lifting of US sanctions had expired.
Nevertheless, Iran and the IAEA reached a temporary technical agreement two days earlier to limit the extent of the suspension of certain inspections for up to three months.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is also due to meet his Irish counterpart later in the day, wrote on Twitter on Friday that he would present “soon” a “constructive and concrete action plan from Tehran through appropriate diplomatic channels ”.
