Europeans reject US list of demands from Iran
May 22, 2018 –
- 'No alternative' to Iran deal, EU's Mogherini tells US
- UK's Johnson says ‘jumbo’ Iran talks 'very, very difficult'
- Russian diplomat calls Pompeo’s demands nonsense
- Iran slams US ‘sham’ diplomacy
European officials criticized US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for demanding dramatic changes in Iran’s foreign and nuclear policies, with European Union top diplomat rejecting any alternative to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
The EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned Monday there was "no alternative" to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after Pompeo vowed unprecedented sanctions against Tehran.
"Secretary Pompeo's speech has not demonstrated how walking away from the JCPOA has made or will make the region safer from the threat of nuclear proliferation or how it puts us in a better position to influence Iran's conduct in areas outside the scope of JCPOA," Mogherini said in a statement.
Pompeo – a longtime Iran hawk and fierce opponent of the 2015 agreement – earlier outlined an aggressive series of "painful" measures designed to hurt Tehran, in his first key address since moving to the State Department from the CIA in April.
He threatened the US would impose the "strongest sanctions in history" against Iran unless it capitulated to 12 demands regarding its regional behavior and missile program.
"Iran will never again have carte blanche to dominate the Middle East," Pompeo said, outlining the 12 tough conditions from Washington for any "new deal" with Tehran.
But Mogherini called on the US to keep its commitments as part of the agreement signed under former US president Barack Obama.
"The JCPOA is the result of more than a decade of complex and delicate negotiations, based on dual track approach and therefore the best possible outcome, striking the right balance," Mogherini said.
"This deal belongs to the international community, having been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. The international community expects all sides to keep the commitments they made more than two years ago."
She reiterated that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had confirmed already 10 times that Iran has implemented "all its nuclear related commitments" under the agreement.
The EU has been trying to persuade Iran to stay in the 2015 agreement, even without Washington's participation.
US President Donald Trump sparked an international outcry earlier this month when he announced his country would pull out of the landmark accord struck in July 2015 between Tehran and major world powers.
His move came despite the fact that the UN's nuclear watchdog, in charge of monitoring Iran's compliance with the deal, has confirmed that Tehran has so far abided by the terms.
Trump wants Brussels and others to support his hardline strategy and push for a fresh agreement.
European leaders have strongly condemned the US move to abandon the deal and reimpose sanctions, seeing it as undermining regional security and a direct attack on their economic interests and political sovereignty.
Russia and China – two other parties to the agreement – have also criticized the US move and vowed to maintain trade with Iran.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also warned Monday that the "jumbo Iran negotiation" sought by Trump will be "very, very difficult" to achieve.
Johnson said that he didn't see a comprehensive deal "being very easy to achieve, in anything like a reasonable timetable," defending the original Iran agreement.
"The prospect of a new jumbo Iran treaty is going to be very, very difficult.
"I think in the end, we will get back to the kind of additions to the JCPOA that we initially envisaged – but it may take a long time," he added.
Johnson said Britain was already taking measures to try to shield British companies dealing with Iran from being hit by US sanctions.
"We're going to do everything we possibly can," he said.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, attending the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Buenos Aires, said he was not surprised by Pompeo's critique of the Iran deal, before adding: "We do not see at this time a better alternative."
Maas said he will travel to Washington to talk with Pompeo this week.
"From here I will actually travel to Washington to have a meeting with Secretary Pompeo, and take advantage of that meeting to talk about this," Maas said in response to a question from a journalist about the Iran deal.
Russia’s representative at the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov said on Tuesday Pompeo’s demands addressed to Iran are “nonsense”, because they leave no chance for clinching a deal.
"That’s nonsense, nothing can be agreed on this basis," he said from Vienna in a video conference.
"The United States is unable to understand that Iran has sovereign rights, including the right to civilian nuclear power," Ulyanov stressed.
He also said that Washington’s decision to quit the Iranian nuclear deal was due to the current US administration’s utter incompetence and misunderstanding of the deal.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani dismissed threats made by Pompeo, saying the rest of the world no longer accepts Washington making decisions on their behalf.
"Who are you to decide for Iran and the world?" Rouhani said hours after Pompeo’s speech in Washington. “Who are you to make a decision for Iran and the world and to tell Iran what to do and what not to do in the nuclear field?”
"The world today does not accept that the United States decides for the world. Countries have their independence … that era is over ... We will continue our path with the support of our nation," he added.
But Rouhani dismissed the Trump administration as a "move 15 years backward to the era of Bush junior and a repeat of the same statements as 2003".
"The era of such statements is over and the Iranian people have heard these statements hundreds of times, and no longer pay attention," he added.
“A guy who had been active in an espionage center for years now wants to make a decision for Iran and other countries from the position of a foreign minister. It is not acceptable under any circumstance”.
"The world does not accept the logic by which a guy who had been active in an espionage center for years now wants to make a decision for Iran and other countries from the position of a foreign minister. It is not acceptable under any circumstance," said Rouhani, referring to Pompeo's recent job as head of the CIA.
Iran's foreign minister also tweeted that the United States was repeating "the same wrong choices" in reaction to Pompeo’s statement.
"US diplomacy sham is merely a regression to old habits: imprisoned by delusions & failed policies—dictated by corrupt Special Interest—it repeats the same wrong choices and will thus reap the same ill rewards. Iran, meanwhile, is working with partners for post-US JCPOA solutions," Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his official Twitter account.
AFP, Reuters, AP and TASS contributed to this story.