Europe Is Erring by Following Donald Trump's Strategy, Says Araqchi

Europe is making a mistake by following Donald Trump’s strategy, stated Iran's Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic of Iran is open to diplomacy and the signing of a new agreement regarding its nuclear program, but sanctions must be lifted, as reported by Mehr.

“For more than two decades, Europe has been at the center of an artificially created ongoing crisis related to my country's peaceful nuclear program. In many respects, Europe's role reflects the state of wider international relations. Once, Europe was a restraining force that sought to rein in the belligerent America with maximalist aims in our region, and today it tolerates Washington's chaos,” Araqchi wrote in an article published in The Guardian.

Last week, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, known as the “E3,” announced that they have activated the “snapback” process of UN sanctions against Iran. This mechanism was created by the 2015 nuclear agreement to punish for significant non-compliance with commitments, signed by Iran, the E3, the United States, China, and Russia.

“The E3's gambit lacks any legal force, mainly because it ignores the sequence of events that led Iran to undertake legal corrective measures within the framework of the nuclear agreement. The three countries want the world to forget that it was the U.S. — not Iran — that unilaterally ceased participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is the official name of the deal. E3 representatives are also silent about how they have failed to fulfill their part of the agreement, let alone the fact that they outrageously welcomed Iran's bombings in June. It may seem that Britain, France, and Germany are acting contrarily. However, the truth is that they are deliberately following a reckless course of action, as this could secure their place at the negotiating table on other issues. This is a grave miscalculation that will inevitably lead to counterproductive outcomes,” stated Abbas Araqchi.