TEHRAN: Europe is not helping preserve an accord on Iran’s nuclear program by asking for additional talks on issues like missiles, powerful anti-Western cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said on Tuesday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Jannati is the head of the Assembly of Experts, an influential body that can select and dismiss the supreme leader, the highest authority in Iran.
Last week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tehran should be ready to negotiate on its future nuclear plans, its ballistic missile arsenal and its role in wars in Syria and Yemen. Iran’s foreign ministry rejected the idea.
President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May and is re-imposing sanctions on Tehran. The other parties to the accord – China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany- are trying to find ways to save the agreement.
“Europe has announced that they won’t leave the deal,” Jannati said, according to IRNA. “In practice, by bringing up a discussion of missiles and other issues they are not following an appropriate path.”
Last month, the European Union decided to provide 18 million euros ($21 million) in aid to Iran to offset the impact of US sanctions, part of efforts to salvage the deal.
Separately, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested that the United States is trying pressure Iran through sanctions, though he did not explicitly name the United States.
“The enemy says ‘I want an Iran that’s in my control, that’s in my fist,’” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast on state TV. “This is impossible…They want to pull us back 40 years, to surrender.”
