Kayhan Int’l
TEHRAN -- Iran on Saturday warned European states of "serious action” if they submit to a U.S. demand to extend UN sanctions on Iran which expire in October under an international nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.
The Europeans – namely France, Britain and France – are signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which the U.S. government has been trying to wreck after unilaterally abandoning it.
While they have tried to keep the agreement from unraveling, the so-called European Big Three have failed to put up any meaningful resistance to the U.S. provocation and have instead backed down anytime the push has come to shove.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to cobble together some semblance of consensus which is lacking up to this moment in order to extend the arms ban against Iran, claiming that U.S. and unidentified allied forces had interdicted a vessel that was carrying Iranian arms to Yemen.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi shot back. "Lying, accusations and spreading hatred are key elements of America’s foreign policy, especially in the current regime. Pompeo’s remarks stem from this approach,” he said.
"Americans are trying to provide excuses to continue their maximum pressure on Iran, advance their malicious goals and to extend the arms embargo on Iran,” he said.
On Saturday, Mousavi said the arms ban must end in accordance with the nuclear agreement.
"This is our legal right. This is a privilege that Iran enjoys under the JCPOA and Resolution 2231. By virtue of those documents, the ban on the purchase and sale of weapons by Iran must be lifted by October,” he said, referring to a UN Security Council resolution which enshrines the nuclear deal.
"Naturally, the Americans will struggle to prevent it and take action such as what they are doing now, including propaganda campaigns and spreading lies about Iran’s moves.
"They want to build a new consensus against Iran and create the impression that it (the lifting of the arms embargo) would harm security. But we have shown that the ones who undermine security, peace and stability in the region are the foreign forces, especially the Americans, and their actions,” Mousavi said.
The spokesman said, "We have already warned that if the Americans and some European countries buckle under political and diplomatic pressure by the U.S. and give way to a reinstatement of the arms embargo, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take serious action which it has planned. We hope we won’t get to that point.”
Mousavi, however, speculated that the United Nations Security Council was unlikely to succumb to U.S. pressure.
"In our estimation, the UN Security Council is not moving in that direction. For now, we should wait and see what the Americans and the rest of the world will do,” he added.
The spokesman urged all countries to act wisely with regard to global peace and security. "Again, we hope and we urge independent nations not to make injudicious decisions about international peace and security under the U.S. pressure,” he said.
Britain, France and Germany said last month they would not back U.S. efforts to unilaterally trigger the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran.
If the UN Security Council does not extend the embargo, Washington has threatened to trigger a so-called snapback of all UN sanctions on Iran, ironically using a process outlined in the nuclear deal which it has quit.
Such a move would be likely to kill the nuclear accord.
"We firmly believe that any unilateral attempt to trigger UN sanctions snapback would have serious adverse consequences in the UN Security Council,” the foreign ministers of the three European countries (E3) said in a statement.
"We would not support such a decision, which would be incompatible with our current efforts to preserve the JCPOA,” they said after discussing Iran in Berlin.
Reports say European diplomats are working on a compromise, meaning they are trying to persuade Russia and China - which like the E3 remain in the deal and oppose the U.S. bid - into something acceptable to the United States.
"We believe that the planned lifting of the UN conventional arms embargo... would have major implications for regional security and stability,” the E3 has said, adding it was working in coordination with China and Russia on the issue.
Such moves are set to strike a nerve with Iran which has been biding its time for an eventual lifting of the sanctions.
On Saturday, the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy commission tabled a motion to suspend Tehran’s voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a lawmaker said.
Vice chairman of the panel Abbas Moqtadaee said the motion, prepared as an urgent proposal, would oblige the government to cease the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol.
"Many lawmakers have signed the motion in response to the excessive demands of the U.S. and EU,” he said, adding the proposal will soon be submitted to the parliament’s presiding board.
The Europeans – namely France, Britain and France – are signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which the U.S. government has been trying to wreck after unilaterally abandoning it.
While they have tried to keep the agreement from unraveling, the so-called European Big Three have failed to put up any meaningful resistance to the U.S. provocation and have instead backed down anytime the push has come to shove.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to cobble together some semblance of consensus which is lacking up to this moment in order to extend the arms ban against Iran, claiming that U.S. and unidentified allied forces had interdicted a vessel that was carrying Iranian arms to Yemen.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi shot back. "Lying, accusations and spreading hatred are key elements of America’s foreign policy, especially in the current regime. Pompeo’s remarks stem from this approach,” he said.
"Americans are trying to provide excuses to continue their maximum pressure on Iran, advance their malicious goals and to extend the arms embargo on Iran,” he said.
On Saturday, Mousavi said the arms ban must end in accordance with the nuclear agreement.
"This is our legal right. This is a privilege that Iran enjoys under the JCPOA and Resolution 2231. By virtue of those documents, the ban on the purchase and sale of weapons by Iran must be lifted by October,” he said, referring to a UN Security Council resolution which enshrines the nuclear deal.
"Naturally, the Americans will struggle to prevent it and take action such as what they are doing now, including propaganda campaigns and spreading lies about Iran’s moves.
"They want to build a new consensus against Iran and create the impression that it (the lifting of the arms embargo) would harm security. But we have shown that the ones who undermine security, peace and stability in the region are the foreign forces, especially the Americans, and their actions,” Mousavi said.
The spokesman said, "We have already warned that if the Americans and some European countries buckle under political and diplomatic pressure by the U.S. and give way to a reinstatement of the arms embargo, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take serious action which it has planned. We hope we won’t get to that point.”
Mousavi, however, speculated that the United Nations Security Council was unlikely to succumb to U.S. pressure.
"In our estimation, the UN Security Council is not moving in that direction. For now, we should wait and see what the Americans and the rest of the world will do,” he added.
The spokesman urged all countries to act wisely with regard to global peace and security. "Again, we hope and we urge independent nations not to make injudicious decisions about international peace and security under the U.S. pressure,” he said.
Britain, France and Germany said last month they would not back U.S. efforts to unilaterally trigger the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran.
If the UN Security Council does not extend the embargo, Washington has threatened to trigger a so-called snapback of all UN sanctions on Iran, ironically using a process outlined in the nuclear deal which it has quit.
Such a move would be likely to kill the nuclear accord.
"We firmly believe that any unilateral attempt to trigger UN sanctions snapback would have serious adverse consequences in the UN Security Council,” the foreign ministers of the three European countries (E3) said in a statement.
"We would not support such a decision, which would be incompatible with our current efforts to preserve the JCPOA,” they said after discussing Iran in Berlin.
Reports say European diplomats are working on a compromise, meaning they are trying to persuade Russia and China - which like the E3 remain in the deal and oppose the U.S. bid - into something acceptable to the United States.
"We believe that the planned lifting of the UN conventional arms embargo... would have major implications for regional security and stability,” the E3 has said, adding it was working in coordination with China and Russia on the issue.
Such moves are set to strike a nerve with Iran which has been biding its time for an eventual lifting of the sanctions.
On Saturday, the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy commission tabled a motion to suspend Tehran’s voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a lawmaker said.
Vice chairman of the panel Abbas Moqtadaee said the motion, prepared as an urgent proposal, would oblige the government to cease the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol.
"Many lawmakers have signed the motion in response to the excessive demands of the U.S. and EU,” he said, adding the proposal will soon be submitted to the parliament’s presiding board.
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