Zarif responds to Trump: US sanctions will not stop Iranian oil

For the Foreign Minister, the White House's attempt to block the sale of crude oil "is impossible". The world is "tired" of United States unilateral policies. The idea of ​​privileged channels with the EU to strengthen trade. British scholar: the White House policy will eventually isolate the US, not Iran.

Teheran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has responded to US President Donald Trump's threats saying that the United States will not be able to prevent the Islamic Republic from exporting oil. The reference is to the second block of US sanctions against Teheran, which is expected to come into force on November 5 and concerns the sale of hydrocarbons, one of Iran's main sources of income.

For Zarif, the White House's goal to isolate Tehran and force the rest of the world not to buy Iranian oil is "impossible". The head of diplomacy of the Islamic Republic has also joked about President Trump's  use of social media, underlining that "the shouts of anger and tweets in capital letters" will not change the fact that the world is "tired of US unilateralism".

In recent days, the White House tenant has launched a harsh warning against allies and the international community: "Anyone doing business with Iran - he said - will no longer be able to do business with the United States". Words following the entry into force of the first part of the sanctions against Tehran, which were warranted following the decision to cancel the 2015 nuclear agreement (the JCPOA).

Zarif writes, "Stopping US trade and killing 100K US jobs is fine with us, but the world won't follow impulsive tweeted diktats. Just ask EU, Russia, China & dozens of our other trading partners". During the interview, the Iranian leader adds that the goal of the US administration to cancel crude oil exports is "meaningless" and "impossible". "The nations with which the United States trades - he warns - have already told Washington that they will continue to buy their oil from Iran".

In the first row between those who want to preserve business relations with Tehran there is Brussels and the block of European countries, according to which the nuclear agreement works and should not be canceled. In spite of the American sanctions, the Union intends to continue to buy oil from the Islamic Republic and to do so it is willing to "create accounts" in the Iranian Central Bank. "The result of these measures - concludes Zarif - will be US isolation".

The words of the head of Iranian diplomacy are confirmed by some experts and analysts of international politics who believe the economic and commercial war launched by the US administration against Teheran will eventually isolate the United States. In an editorial published in Strategic Culture the British scholar Finian Cunningham urges Washington to respect multilateralism as other nations do. Otherwise, the risk is "economic isolation" by the rest of the international community. In particular, Trump reinforces the course undertaken by Russia and China that intend to free themselves from the US dollar in international trade. Without the reserve currency privilege, the US economy would collapse.

• iran
• united states
• european union
• sanctions
• nuclear
• war
• peace
• agreements