BEIRUT/BERLIN: Iran poured scorn on threatened US sanctions on Tuesday and told European powers to step up and salvage its international nuclear deal – though Germany signaled there was only so much it could do to fend off Washington’s economic clout.
Senior Iranian military and political figures queued up to issue defiant statements a day after Washington threatened “the strongest sanctions in history” if Iran failed to make a series of sweeping changes.
Two weeks on from US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear pact, his administration told Iran to drop its nuclear program and pull out of the Syrian civil war among other demands, setting Washington and Tehran further on a course of confrontation.
“The people of Iran should stand united in the face of this and they will deliver a strong punch to the mouth of the American Secretary of State and anyone who backs them,” Ismail Kowsari, a senior commander with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
The 2015 nuclear agreement, worked out by the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and Iran, lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its atomic program.
Trump called it the worst deal ever negotiated but European powers see it as the best chance of stopping Iran developing a nuclear bomb.
After Trump pulled out, the other signatories said they would try to salvage the deal and keep Iran’s oil trade and investment flowing. But European companies say they are worried about getting caught up in the new US sanctions, given the extent of Washington’s global reach, and some have already started pulling out.
The head of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy committee in parliament said that the only way to salvage the nuclear deal would be for the European signatories to stand up to the United States.
“Today they must show their strength in the face of American pressure,” Alaeddin Borujerdi said, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.
