The Shiite leader calls for protection of oil sales and for safeguarding trade. And EU countries must not ask for negotiations on the ballistic missile program or on activities in the region. The distance between Washington and Brussels remains deep. German Minister: we are following "two different paths".
Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei has dictated the conditions under which the country will remain in the nuclear agreement (the JCPOA) with China, Russia and Europe, after US President Donald Trump's decision to cancel it and introduce new sanctions. Among the elements of greatest interest for the highest Shiite authority are the protection of oil sales and the safeguarding of trade.
In recent days, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced "the hardest sanctions in history" against the Islamic Republic. The position of the main European leaders - Germany, Great Britain and France - which intend to respect the pact signed in 2015 is different.
This is the backdrop to the recent diplomatic voyage to Brussels of the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the choice of the European Union (EU) to brush up on a pro-Cuba norm; the objective is to protect their companies from the "extraterritorial application" of the new sanctions imposed by the White House.
In his speech, ayatollah Khamenei emphasizes that the European powers should protect Iran's oil sales from US sanctions and continue with the purchase of oil. Furthermore, EU banks must safeguard trade with the Islamic Republic. Finally, France, Germany and the United Kingdom should commit not to ask for negotiations on the ballistic missile program and on activities in the region, two key points for Washington.
If these requests are not met, he said, the country will resume uranium enrichment activities. And there will no longer be any agreements that provide for the presence of the United States. "The Islamic Republic - concluded Khamenei - can no longer make agreements with a government that violates international treaties with such ease".
Meanwhile, the distance between Washington and Brussels in terms of Iranian nuclear remains deep, as confirmed by the head of the German diplomacy Heiko Maas. "We are still very far from a compromise - said the Foreign Minister at the end of a meeting with Pompeo - we are following different paths". Finally, Maas himself praised the "great solidarity" of all the European countries signing the nuclear agreement and the entire European Union that want to keep the JCPOA alive and continue negotiations with Tehran.