Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and French Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian met on Monday in Tehran.
The two officials discussed a host of issues in areas of bilateral ties and regional and international developments.
The French top diplomat arrived in Tehran early on Sunday and met with Mr. Shamkhani as the first program of his visit to Tehran before noon.
He is also slated to hold bilateral meetings with his Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the Speaker of Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani.
The ways to broaden bilateral relations, and regional and international issues were among the things discussed during the meeting between Mr. Shamkhani and Mr. Le Drian.
“The logic behind every international treaty is protection of the agreement by all sides and the international community and it is illogical to ask one party to stay committed to an agreement and act indifferently toward the other side who is violating all the promises made in the agreement,” said the Iranian former defense minister after welcoming the expansion of political and economic relations between Iran and France.
Mr. Shamkhani also called for speeding up the process of removing the barriers on this path, especially in regards with banking transactions in the post-JCPOA era.
“The failure of the JCPOA agreement will lead to devaluation of international treaties and agreement in addition to defaming the logic of dialogue for resolving global issues,” reiterated the SNSC secretary after urging all European sides to speed up meeting their promises outlined in the nuclear agreement of July 14, 2015.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is the title of the nuclear agreement signed in Vienna by the representatives of Iran, France, Germany, US, UK, China, Russia, and the European Union.
“European policy in giving in advantages to US to keep the Americans inside the nuclear agreement is a wrong policy and means inactivity and surrendering to Trump’s psychological warfare,” noted the Iranian Leader’s senior advisor.
“If the Islamic Republic of Iran had not paid huge costs in countering terrorism could lead to an uncontrollable aggregation of crisis and insecurity in an spreading way towards the Europe in a way that it could have seriously affected France,” said Mr. Shamkhani referring to the endeavors of the Islamic Republic of Iran in fighting against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
“The inactivity and passive approach of Paris in countering terrorist groups which are residing in France, the ones who are responsible for assassinating thousands of innocent cibvilians, is in contrast with the international responsibility of France in war against terrorism,” he lashed out at French government policy in homing MKO terrorist group in France for decades.
“Iran’s defense capability is not threatening any country and its expansion and development is in accordance with security needs of Iran and the potential threats against the country and not affected by political elements,” said Rear Admiral Shamkhani after insisting on the fact that developing Iran’s defense capabilities especially in the field of missile defense is an inevitable imperative.
He then touched upon the latest proposed resolution of European countries in regards with the Yemeni crisis and described the drafted resolution as a disappointing measure and a sign of westerners’ indifference to genocide, the violation of human rights, and humanitarian catastrophes in Yemen.
“We are fully aware of the history, power, and capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and we hold that the prospect of Iran-France political and economic relations in the post JCPOA era is very bright,” said the French foreign minister, for his part.
Mr. Le Drian voiced his deep content with his visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran and his meetings with the officials of Iran.
He also hailed the active approach of the Islamic Republic of Iran in dealing with the JCPOA and fully delivering on its commitments.
“In addition to insisting on compliance of all sides of the JCPOA to the agreement, the French government takes the US stance in regards with the agreement as an undermining measure against this international pact and is opposed to this approach of Americans,” said the French top diplomat.
He also reassured that European banks are conducting a series of measures to ease banking and monetary relations between Iran and Europe.
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