Iraqi: Upcoming Iran-Europe Negotiations Are Not Related to Missile Program

A few weeks before the third round of negotiations between Iran and the European Union regarding Yemen, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs emphasized that these talks are unrelated to nuclear negotiations or the Islamic Republic's missile program. ISNA reported on Tuesday, June 7, that the third round of discussions involving Iran, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and the European Union will take place in Brussels in the second half of June. According to the report, the focus of these negotiations is the Yemen crisis. In this context, Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, denied reports about negotiations concerning Iran's missile program during a television program on Sunday evening, June 6. He stressed that these discussions are 'separate' from Iran's nuclear negotiations with Germany, Britain, France, and the EU. Non-intervention in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen is among the 12 demands made by the United States from the Islamic Republic, recently announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. On Tuesday, May 21, Pompeo stated that if these demands are not met, the United States will impose 'the most severe sanctions in history' against Iran. The following day, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned five Iranian citizens for 'training and providing technical assistance to the Houthis in Yemen,' enabling them to launch ballistic missiles towards Saudi Arabia. According to this statement, Mehdi Azarpisheh, Mohammad Agha Jafari, Mahmoud Bagheri Kazemabad, Javad Bordbar Shiramain, and Seyed Mohammad Ali Hadadnejad Tehrani have been sanctioned by the U.S. The Iran-EU negotiations regarding Yemen began in late February 2018 on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Subsequently, some media, including Reuters, reported that the goal of these negotiations is to address the concerns of Arab countries and Israel regarding 'Iran's role in regional instability.' The second round of these negotiations was held on Thursday, March 4, in Rome, attended by Helga Schmid, Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the EU, and political directors from the foreign ministries of Italy, Germany, France, and Britain. In this context, a European diplomat who wished to remain anonymous told Reuters that 'the Iranians are cooperating very well,' but this cooperation does not mean that 'we will witness a real impact in the world.' Ali Majidi, Iran's ambassador to Germany, also stated in an interview with Shargh newspaper that European countries expected the Islamic Republic to persuade the Houthi Shiites 'to come to the negotiating table,' and 'we had done this.' In late March, Reuters reported, citing diplomats and Yemeni political sources, that the Houthis and Saudi Arabia were engaged in secret negotiations to end the three-year war in the country. The Iranian-backed Houthi militants have launched missiles towards various locations in Saudi Arabia several times in recent months. These attacks are part of the ongoing conflict between the two sides in the three-year Yemen war, which many regional observers believe has turned into a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.