Zarif Accuses European Countries and the U.S. of 'Violating the JCPOA'

Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an interview with a newspaper, accused European countries of 'extremism' against the Islamic Republic, stating that 'this extremism will ultimately harm Europe's own policies.' In the conversation with the Tuesday, March 5 edition of the 'Etemad' newspaper, Zarif criticized the European Troika, which includes Britain, France, and Germany, for aligning with the U.S. and said that 'European countries have become extreme in order to keep the U.S. in the JCPOA.' He stated that 'currently, two groups have violated the JCPOA,' identifying them as 'the Americans and the Europeans,' adding: 'Americans due to Washington's policies and Europeans due to America's policies.' Zarif mentioned that 'Europeans have been unable to fulfill their JCPOA commitments, especially in the banking sector, due to U.S. policies,' thus the two mentioned groups 'are not in a position' to impose conditions on Iran, which 'has fully implemented the JCPOA.' The Iranian Foreign Minister emphasized that 'their entry into this area is dangerous' and that Tehran will respond 'appropriately.' Tehran and the P5+1 group, including the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany, reached a comprehensive agreement in July 2015 to resolve Tehran's nuclear program. Although sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program were lifted following this agreement, Iran has consistently complained that it has not been able to fully benefit from the JCPOA, especially in the area of banking communications. The Trump administration, which came to power in January 2017, opposes the nuclear agreement made during Barack Obama's presidency. Trump has demanded 'fundamental fixes' to the agreement by May, or else the U.S. will withdraw from the JCPOA. Reports indicate that the three European countries—Britain, France, and Germany—have formed a joint committee with the U.S. to address the requests of the U.S. President regarding the JCPOA. Trump has set four conditions for the U.S. to continue its participation in the JCPOA, which include 'immediate access' for international inspectors to all Iranian sites and facilities, making restrictions on Iran's nuclear program permanent, ensuring no approach to nuclear weapons, and limiting Iran's long-range missile program; as Trump stated, the long-range missile program and Iran's nuclear weapons program are 'inseparable.' In his interview with Etemad, Zarif stated that 'for now, Trump has raised slogans that none of them have operational aspects' and that 'Europeans often do not understand what the U.S. President's slogans mean, and perhaps in some cases, even Americans do not know what these slogans mean.' Zarif added that 'Europeans have embarked on a very unproductive path' aimed at 'satisfying the U.S. President,' but 'Europe has experienced this process of satisfying America before and did not achieve good results.' In another part of his remarks, he considered the voting on a resolution condemning Iran in the Yemen crisis as 'an insult to global collective intelligence' and accused the U.S., France, and Britain, who supported this resolution, of 'defending the aggressor.' On March 7, a proposed resolution by Britain was presented in the Security Council, which expressed concern over the violation of arms embargoes by Iran while extending the arms embargo on Yemen. Russia vetoed this resolution; an action that Zarif stated 'prevented the reputation of the UN Security Council from being jeopardized again,' and if passed, it would have been recognized in the coming years as a resolution defending the aggressor.