MNA – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran will keep pressurizing Europe to comply with their commitments to the landmark nuclear deal (JCPOA) which Iran signed with world powers in 2015.







Zarif said that the Islamic Republic will continue pressuring them to honor the historic pact, stressing that the European parties to the deal should shoulder their commitments and could not go on with a few unperformed plans.

The top diplomat made the remarks in an interview with Khamenei.ir on Wednesday.

“From the beginning, the Europeans viewed the JCPOA as an achievement, Zarif said, adding that, however, they might not be prepared, and surely lack enough power to resist the US sanctions.”

Noting that the European parties have made some insufficient effort regarding the deal, the official said, “In some instances, we can even say these efforts show the unpreparedness of the Europeans for working on an area which they claim has strategic importance for them.”

He said this was exactly the fact that Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had pointed out when the US left the JCPOA last May.

“As it was necessary for us to obligate Europeans to abide by their commitments, we continued to work with the Europeans in the diplomatic dimension, and we will continue to do so; however, we have never placed our hope on Europe.”

The foreign minister went on to say that “this is why in recent years even at the beginning of the JCPOA, most of our relations—the president’s and my visits—have been with neighboring countries, with the countries that were old partners of Iran; like Russia, China, Turkey, Iraq, and we have focused on these regions for our future foreign relations, too.”

So, the government has been focusing on the countries that are close to us and have sided with us, he said, adding that “if I want to avoid the term ‘friend’, I’d say they have been cooperative with us.”