“European companies can still make purchases of Iranian oil. Some of them have no interests in the US thus are not worried about the US sanctions,” he said in an interview with Le Monde.
“Italy and Greece stopped their purchases, while the US had granted them some waivers. This shows that those countries have made a political decision,” he added.
Expressing discontent about Europeans’ behavior towards JCPOA, Kharrazi said that they have not fulfilled their commitments towards the nuclear deal and Iran has given them a 60-day-deadline to do so.
“Europe created a financial mechanism named INSTEX to fortify its trade ties with Iran but has done nothing more than that despite US banking sections,” Kharrazi said, “The complimentary mechanism has been established in Iran and the two-month-ultimatum seems enough for Europeans to initiate financial transactions with Iran.”
The Iranian Parliament on Tuesday held a closed session to address the country’s decision on reducing commitments to the nuclear deal and its 60-day ultimatum to the remaining signatories to the JCPOA.
As reported on Monday from a press conference in Brussels after EU Foreign Ministers' Summit, European Union (EU) Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini has hoped that financial channel between Iran and EU dubbed “INSTEX” would become operational in the next few weeks.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced on Wednesday — one year the after US withdrawal from the JCPOA — that Tehran would partially discontinue its commitments under the deal. The Iranian president gave Europe 60 days to ensure Iran's interests were protected under the agreement. Otherwise, Tehran is ready to take further steps towards scrapping the nuclear deal, Rouhani added.
On Thursday, EU rejected Iran’s ultimatum on JCPOA, which calls on the bloc to make good on their commitments to the nuclear deal in the next two months or Tehran would start suspending some of its own.
On the same day, Mogherini told reporters that the bloc remains fully committed to the full implementation of the JCPOA, saying so far Iran has been fully compliant with all of its nuclear-related commitments. She also voiced hope that the EU's full commitment to preserve the agreement would contribute to preserve it in the future.
Some Iranian Parliament members have also criticized EU’s rejection of Iran’s ultimatum on JCPOA.
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