German FM Maas: Time to Reassess Partnership with US in 'Sober, Critical Way'

TEHRAN (Defapress)- German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has announced plans to present Berlin's new foreign policy on the United States in the next few weeks.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has announced plans to present Berlin's new foreign policy on the United States in the next few weeks.

The German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) cited Maas as saying that he plans to make use of the Year of Germany in the US, which is due to begin on October 3, in order to promote the new policy.

"It's high time we reassess the transatlantic partnership in a sober, critical and even self-critical way," Maas emphasized, in an apparent reference to US-German relations, Sputnik reported.

The statement came after Maas pointed out in an article published by the German business newspaper Handelsblatt that if Europe wants to save the Iran nuclear agreement, it should review its partnership with the US and create an EU payment system to serve as a "counterweight" to the US, whenever Washington "crosses red lines."

"Single-handedly, we will fail in this task. The main goal of our foreign policy is therefore to build a sovereign, strong Europe. "That's why it is indispensable that we strengthen European autonomy by creating payment channels that are independent of the United States, a European Monetary Fund and an independent SWIFT system," Maas wrote.

He added that Germany needs a "balanced partnership" with the White House, in which it "brings its weight where the US withdraws."

The remarks were preceded by the EU pledging to counter the US' renewed sanctions on Tehran and scrambling to persuade the Islamic Republic to adhere to the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was abandoned by Washington in early May.

In a separate development that month, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the ARD broadcaster that he is seriously concerned over the current development of transatlantic relations.

He claimed that the Trump administration "perceives Europe not as a part of a world community within which countries cooperate, but rather as an arena where every country has to find its way around."

Steinmeier praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron for doing "the right thing in Washington," since they pointed at European interests not only in the sphere of trade, but also stressed the necessity to preserve the JCPOA.

President Donald Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal on May 8, vowing to impose the "highest level" of sanctions on the Islamic Republic and threatening to slap sanctions on those European companies which will keep doing business with Tehran.

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