“Europe was trying to humiliate the Iranian nation by offering oil-for-food and oil-for-medicine programs. The Islamic Republic should not give in to the INSTEX. This is a new step for buying more time,” MP Ahmad Salek, told Mehr News Agency on Wednesday.
“Europe and America are disloyal, wicked and deceitful and they impose their interests on the Iranian nation,” added the principalist lawmaker.
After the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018, European signatories to the deal called on Iran to stick to the deal, promising that they would facilitate trade ties with Iran. However, after more than one year, no practical and tangible measure has been adopted. Europeans have announced that a special-purpose vehicle called INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) has been operational but its first transactions are yet to be completed. The channel is aimed at providing food and medicine to Iran, at least in its first stage, but Iran says this is not enough and it must also cover Iran’s oil export and banking relations. Tehran is reducing its commitments to the deal, according to paragraphs 26 and 36 of the JCPOA, asking for other parties to comply with their commitments under the deal and shield its economy from damages of illegal US sanctions.
“When the Islamic Republic gave 60-day deadline to Europe and those countries didn’t complied with their obligations, [Iranian administration] should have immediately pulled out of the JCPOA and increased its uranium enrichment, however, since the Islamic Republic is complying with international agreements, it gave Europe more time,” said Salek who represents Isfahan in the Parliament.
He called on the Iranian administration to adopt ‘brave, serious, and firm’ measure against US sanctions and violation of the JCPOA.
The lawmaker also said that the administration should not scare people about the effects of FATF-related bills’ rejection or withdrawal from nuclear deal “because currently the maximum pressure of sanctions is imposed on the Iranian nation.”
“The JCPOA failed to cure the problem of sanctions and hence the Islamic republic should follow Revolutionary diplomacy and start uranium enrichment with great speed,” he stressed.
Referring to the UK’s illegal measure in seizing a supertanker carrying Iranian oil, the MP said, “retaliatory measure should be taken against oil tankers heading Europe from the Strait of Hormuz.”
MAH/4659645