TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that Iran will not give in to pressure and will make Washington talk to the people of Iran with language of respect.

“We will not give in to international pressure and along with the people of the world, we will make them talk to the people of Iran with language of respect and never threaten an Iranian,” he said during a speech at a ceremony held to mark National Industry Day.

“The U.S. pressure against the Islamic Republic of Iran does not come from the U.S. power and our weakness. It comes from the U.S. consecutive failures in its policies against Iran.”
He noted, “The U.S. pressure against the Islamic Republic of Iran does not come from the U.S. power or our weakness. It comes from the U.S. consecutive failures in its policies against Iran.”

He said that Iran responds to respect with respect and responds to pressure with resistance.

“The U.S. seeks to break the Iranian people’s resistance and livelihoods, the people who have resisted in the past four decades and are fundamental basis of the Islamic Republic,” he said.

‘Dollar’s role in intl. transactions has been undermined’

Zarif also said that the dollar’s role in the international business transactions has been undermined.

“Recently, Russia and China decided to do their transactions without dollar. In the past year, Iran and Turkey did 35 percent of their transactions without dollar and even India and the United Arab Emirates decided not to use dollar in part of their transactions,” he explained.

Zarif noted that Iran should rely on domestic production and national capabilities.

INSTEX is a European special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate trade between Europe and Iran.

On Friday, the remaining signatories of the nuclear agreement met in the Austrian capital as a last-ditch effort to save the accord after the U.S. withdrew last year.

They announced in a statement that the European Union mechanism for trade with Iran is up and running.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said that INSTEX has become operational and is processing the first transactions.

“On Friday we also gave an important announcement on the defense of the nuclear deal with Iran: the instrument to support legitimate trade exchanges with Iran (called INSTEX) has become operational and is processing the first transactions. Together with the three countries that set it up – France, Germany and the UK – another seven European countries will join the mechanism. On Friday we also gathered the Joint Commission that works to guarantee the deal’s implementation,” she said in an announcement published on her website on Sunday.

However, Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, on Saturday likened INSTEX to a “beautiful car without gasoline”.

“The current situation of INSTEX does not suffice. This mechanism without money is like a beautiful car without gasoline,” he told reporters.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in May 2018 from the multilateral nuclear accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached between Iran and six world powers in 2015.

Afterwards, Washington re-imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the deal.

On May 8, Iran announced a partial withdrawal from some aspects of the nuclear pact, saying that the country would no longer adhere to some of the limits on its nuclear activities. It also threatened to step up uranium enrichment if an agreement is not made within 60 days to protect it from the sanctions’ effects. The deadline ends on July 7.

However, Iran has said if the remaining parties take concrete steps to shield Iran from sanctions it will reverse its decisions.

NA