EU package not to secure Iran’s interests: senior MP

TEHRAN(Defapress) – “Overall assessments show that the Europeans’ package is not totally bad, but it does not provide much for the demands and interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Safari Natanzi said that the Europeans have offered some general proposals in order to buy time and continue negotiations.

“Negotiations with the Europeans are not over as they have apparently left the door open to secure Iran's interests, including the purchase of Iranian oil, the continued cooperation of European banks with Iran, and the presence of small and medium-sized European companies in the Iranian market,” the senior Iranian lawmaker said.

On the possible impact of the US secondary sanctions on the future of the relations between European companies and the Islamic Republic of Iran, he said “at the moment, US unilateral sanctions are not being approved by the UN Security Council and the European countries, therefore, can ignore these sanctions if they want to. There are no obstacles ahead of them, unless they are a target for the American bans. But at the same time the European seems to have taken measures in order to protect at least their small and medium-sized companies in their relations with Iran.”

In response to the question whether small and medium-sized European companies are able to meet Iran’s demands, the MP stated “large European companies have their own problems due to their multi-national nature and foreign interventions, thus it might be better to cooperate with small and medium-sized enterprises.”

Safari Natanzi was positive about the future of relations between Iran and the Europeans, saying “if there had not been these bilateral relations and commitments, we would still have been under the US sanctions. In the current situation that Americans are diligently seeking to hurt us with sanctions, [the relations with Europeans] are an opportunity for us to open a new space for further engagement.”

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