In his recent one-day visit to Tehran and in an interview with Mehr news agency, Nouripour criticized Europe because as he said “it has not reacted strongly towards the US measures and have not been active enough to preserve the JCPOA.”
“One of the reasons for maintaining JCPOA is that in the absence of it, Saudi Arabia will become more involved in nuclear activities in the pursuit of a nuclear bomb, which will be risky for the Middle East and Asia,” he said.
Answering a question about if he has traveled to Iran with a message to Iranian officials, he said that “the first message is that JCPOA is of great importance to Europe. The second message is that we (the Europeans) know that we must become more active, and finally the third message is that maintaining JCPOA is important for the security of Iran.”
Clarifying if Europe is trying to buy time for having INSTEX implemented, the German MP said that “INSTEX can be a very strong mechanism, I hope that in the remaining days by June 27, Europeans will be able to become more active and show that they are ready to invest on JCPOA rescue.”
He noted that in his recent visit to Iran, the German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass found out that the time is flying and Europe must be more active.
He predicted that the visit of the three European ministers to Iran can bring more success about JCPOA.
“Europeans need to know that all the packages that they have proposed up to the present time to Iran have not been sufficient and they should be active more than before,” he said.
“In addition to economic issues, the Iranian security issue should be addressed. JCPOA preservation is directly linked to Saudi Arabia's lack of nuclear weapons, and if both sides reach this important point, we will see better results,” he added.
Being asked about the stance of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the two oil tankers attacked in the Oman Sea, the German MP described that “I have not listened to Merkel' s speech and I do not really know the reason behind it, but in general, Europeans try to keep the one same tone in international affairs. Most probably, Merkel did not want to stand near the American views and positions, neither she liked to take a tough position as did the British foreign secretary.”
“The important point is that Germany will act as a member of the European Union, but at the same time it should be noted that any military action in the region will be terrible for everyone. As a result, we are opposed to American militarism in the region,” he added.
Addressing Europe’s reaction to US selling of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the idea of Trump’s impeachment by Democrats, he said that “for a while, the amount of German military exports to Saudi Arabia has dropped and we believe that even the current level should be reduced due to Saudi military’s presence in Yemen. It is quite clear that sales of military weapons to Saudi Arabia must be stopped not only by Europe but also by all the sides.”
He lamented about Europe’s silence against Saudi Arabia’s nuclear activities saying that “Europe's silence was a big mistake; it is and it will be. The technical reason for this is the problem of the many Europeans with the US government.”
Interview by Shaqayeq Lamezadeh
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