Zarif Says Defeating US’ Anti-Iran Policies Important

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said all capacities of the country must be mobilized to undermine the negative impacts of the US sanctions, highlighting that defeating the US policy of bringing Iran's oil exports to zero must stand atop the national agenda.

News ID: 74539

Date: 24 December 2018 - 15:13

Foreign Minister Zarif attended a meeting of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iranian Parliament on Sunday where he stressed the necessity of properly using potentials against the anti-Iran US policies.

The Iranian top diplomat presented a report on the latest regional and international developments as well as his Ministry’s plans and activities in Sunday meeting with the lawmakers, the Spokesman of the Committee Ali Najafi Khorshroodi recounted what happened in the event.

“Using the various capacities of the country to meet the people's needs under the sanctions and defeating the US policy of bringing Iran's oil exports to zero and strong resistance against US pressures, inter alia, were some of the issues brought up by the Foreign Minister at the meeting,” Khorshroodi said.

Najafi Khoshroudi stated that in the meeting, Zarif had emphasized the importance of relations with neighbors and the need for more coordination among government apparatuses in dealing with foreign affairs.

The senior MP added that “the foreign minister also stressed the parliament’s potentials to advance the foreign policy and more support for the diplomatic apparatus to tackle problems facing national interests”.

The spokesman further added “the Foreign Ministry’s special attention to economic diplomacy and paying attention to public confidence as the biggest back up for countering pressures and sanctions were other issues raised in the meeting.”

In a related front last week, Zarif underlined that the US sanctions have always been ineffective to change the policies of Iran, highlighting that Washington’s embargos just hurt ordinary people.

"They (sanctions) hurt ordinary Iranians but don't change (Iran’s) policy," he said in a post on his official Twitter account.

Referring to the policy adopted by the previous US administration to start talks with Iran over the country's nuclear program, Iran's diplomatic chief said, "It was U-turn on part of US, which allowed #IranTalks to proceed. Same dynamic today," in a clear reference to the fact that instead of withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, the new American government had better settle its disputes with Iran at the negotiating table.

Zarif added in his Twitter post that Iran and the remaining signatories to the JCPOA "are at table," emphasizing that "it is [the] US, which has decided to walk away and sow violence & chaos."

Earlier on Saturday December 15, Zarif told the forum in Qatari capital city of Doha that Iran has survived all the US pressures and sanctions in the past 40 years, highlighting that the ones who abandon engagement with Tehran will be the losers.

“Trump has called for negotiations despite his hostile policies, and we have responded to him that if he was joking,” he highlighted there.

Earlier on November 05, the European Union, France, Germany and Britain issued a joint statement regretting US' decision to impose new sanctions against Iran, saying that they will continue supporting the European companies engaging in legal business with Iran.

The reaction came after the US Treasury Department announced all sanctions on Iran lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal will be back in force on November 5.

According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the sweeping sanctions will see 700 people blacklisted, including people who were granted relief under the 2015 deal, as well as over 300 new names.

Mnuchin said the sanctions will also target payments made through the EU’s SPV channel.

He also warned global financial messaging service SWIFT that it could be punished if it doesn’t cut off financial services to entities and individuals doing business with Iran.

"SWIFT is no different than any other entity… We have advised SWIFT that it must disconnect any Iranian financial institutions that we designate as soon as technologically feasible to avoid sanctions exposure,” he noted.

His remarks dismissed an earlier report by The Washington Free Beacon, which claimed senior State Department officials have convinced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to allow Iran to remain connected to SWIFT.

The Trump administration earlier agreed to allow eight countries to continue purchasing Iran’s crude oil after Washington’s sanctions on Tehran take place next Monday.

A senior administration official told Bloomberg that waivers were aimed at preventing oil price hikes and would be granted in exchange for continued import cuts.

The November 5 sanctions will be the second batch of bans to be re-imposed after Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 deal, which was signed by Iran and six world powers in 2015.

The new sanctions cover Iran’s shipping, finance and energy sectors, and penalize other countries that don’t stop dealing with Tehran.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington would no longer remain part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and promised to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions against Iran.

After Trump's declaration, the Iranian government issued a statement, calling the US withdrawal as "unlawful". The statement underlined Iran's prerequisites for continuing the deal with the five world powers. These conditions that were reiterated later by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei later mainly included Iran's guaranteed crude sales and transfer of its revenues back home.

The other five powers party to the nuclear deal have failed to satisfy Iran, President Hassan Rouhani voiced his disappointment over a package of incentives proposed by the European Union countries to Tehran, two months later, and said that the Islamic Republic expected a much better, clearer and explicit stance by the EU.

"Unfortunately, the EU’s package of proposals lacked an operational solution and a specific method for cooperation, and featured just a set of general commitments like the previous statements by the European Union," President Rouhani said in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 5.

Message end/