Speaking with the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel by telephone on Thursday, President Hassan Rouhani referred to US unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and the limited opportunity that Europe has to explicitly and clearly voice its stances on how to continue the deal; “after US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran has been dealing with economic issues and problems in banking relations and oil, and foreign companies that have invested in Iran are skeptical about continuing their business,” Rouhani said.
He said the package proposed by the three European countries – UK, Germany, and France – on how they are going to live up to their commitments and cooperation under the JCPOA is “disappointing”, adding “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.”
The Iranian president further stressed that the JCPOA was a mutual commitment, saying Iran had expected a “clear plan” from the three European countries after the two months’ time they have been given to come up with solid guarantees to ensure Iran’s economic interests would continue to be met despite US pullout and reinstatement of sanctions.
Still, President Rouhani expressed hope that the Friday’s meeting of the foreign ministers of the remaining five signatories to the deal in Vienna would bear a clear, straightforward and promising message for continuation of the JCPOA.
“If the process of the European foreign ministers’ meeting in Vienna, which is aimed at encouraging Iran to cooperate, is promising, we will continue our cooperation with Europe,” Rouhani added.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for her part, said that the package of proposals contains general and basic issues, and details need to be worked out through further talks.
“What is important is that we know and we are certain that we want to stay in the deal and we believe that dialogue should continue in peace,” she stressed.
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