Europe must compensate Iran for the impact of U.S. sanctions following Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, according to the country’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel published Saturday, he said that intensifying uranium enrichment — a precondition for building nuclear weapons — “would be one of the possibilities,” of the deal unravelling.
“Europeans and other signatories must act to offset the impact of U.S. sanctions. In May they presented us a package. That was an important commitment. Now it has to be put into action,” said Zarif.
“The question is whether Europe wants that its companies follow European laws, or the American ones. Whether it bows to the American dictate,” he added.
Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May — one of the signature foreign policy achievements of his predecessor Barack Obama — and recently proposed new sanctions on Iran starting in November.
Zarif said that Iran proved its compliance with the conditions of the nuclear deal, even after the U.S.’ withdrawal — but that his government will stick to it only as long as it serves the country’s interests: “International relations are based on give and take. If this balance were destroyed by the actions of the Americans and the passivity of the Europeans, then we would react.”
France, Germany and the U.K., are working with Brussels to circumvent U.S. sanctions by creating a “special purpose” financial company that would allow payments between European companies and Iran without interference from Washington.
“For us, the first priority is that Iran can continue to sell oil at a reasonable level and bring the proceeds back to Iran. We also want investment and cooperation in various fields such as science, technology and commerce. But the litmus test is oil and banks,” said Zarif.