TEHRAN – German Ambassador to Tehran Michael Klor-Berchtold said on Wednesday that his country fully supports the Iran nuclear deal and will spare no efforts to salvage the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Klor-Berchtold made the remarks in a meeting with Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior foreign policy advisor to the parliament speaker, IRNA reported.

“Because of the capacities existing between the two countries, Germany welcomes an expansion of relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the German envoy said.

During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views about regional and international affairs and highlighted their willingness to boost bilateral ties.

Amir Abdollahian pointed to Germany’s key status within Europe, saying, Iran and Germany should be in continuous dialogue in order to deepen their ties.

The advisor, however, criticized Europe’s inability to fully implement its trade mechanism with Iran (INSTEX), saying this is while Iran has fully complied with its obligations under the JCPOA.

Politically supporting the JCPOA is not enough and Europe should take practical measures to build Iran’s lost trust toward Europeans, he suggested.

Amir Abdollahian further said that Europe’s diplomacy in dealing with Washington’s misconduct has “not worked properly.”

INSTEX was introduced in January 2019 by France, Germany and Britain – three parties to the 2015 nuclear deal – to facilitate legitimate trade between European economic operators and Iran.

On March 20, Iran’s central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati announced that a mechanism similar to INSTEX has been registered in Iran, officially called the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI).

One year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump formally pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal that was struck between Iran on the one side and the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany on the other.

Since then, Trump has introduced economic sanctions on Iran and last month labeled Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization, a move that heightened the tensions between Tehran and Washington.

MH/