Deputy Iranian foreign minister made the comments in a meeting with the visiting political director-general of Portugal Foreign Ministry in Tehran on Tuesday.
In the meeting, the Iranian and Portuguese diplomats exchanged views on bilateral, regional and international issues.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister referred to the 500-year old bilateral relations between Iran and Portugal and expressed pleasure with the bilateral cultural and academic relations between the two sides.
He called for activating serious mechanisms to strengthen bilateral ties in the sensitive ongoing period of time.
He further said that Tehran expects the European parties to confront [US] unilateralism and criticized Europeans’ refusal to pay the price for genuinely preserving the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).
Meanwhile, he stressed that the current tense situation in the Persian Gulf is influenced by US interventionist policies, adding that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s priority is to ensure security, stability and economic prosperity for the whole region.
The Portuguese Foreign Ministry's political director, for his part, expressed his country's interest in boosting bilateral relations with Iran, saying that Europe was really seeking to preserve the JCPOA and that Portugal was in line with EU policies in that regard.
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