Zarif made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“One factor that can prove Trump’s total lack of concern for the Iranian people and international commitments is that the first batch of sanctions that Trump reinstated against Iran was related to aviation industry,” Zarif said.
Under the sanctions re-imposed on Tehran, the licenses to French-based Airbus and its rivals, Boeing and ATR, for selling aircraft to Iran have been revoked, forcing them to pull out of their deals with Iran.
Donald Trump has been calling for a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a few months after the US president unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reinstated sanctions against Tehran - a move that Iranian officials find completely at odds with Washington's request for a meeting.
“We held two years of extensive talks with US that led to the signing of the nuclear deal, only for Trump to pull out from it,” Zarif continued. “On the impossible assumption of holding talks with the US, how can we trust them to abide by their agreements?”
The US approach has not established any sense of trust, neither for Iran nor any other country in the international community, Zarif added.
“Our situation today is greatly different from the past,” said Zarif. “Back then, any time the US imposed sanctions, because it was backed up by a number of UN Security Council resolutions, other countries would, not only implement them immediately, but they would also impose their own separate sanctions [on Iran].”
“Now though, the world has taken a stance against US sanctions,” said Zarif. “The European Union has announced that it will not comply with US sanctions, and it will also support those countries that wish to side with EU on this position. In a sense, an international consensus has been formed against the US measure.”
“Just as much as Trump’s claim for talks can be disregarded, the US claims on exerting pressure on Iran can also be dismissed,” Zarif added.
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