TEHRAN - Hassan Norouzi, a spokesman with the Majlis Legal and Judicial Committee, has said that the European countries should prove their independence in order to gain Iran’s trust.

In an interview with ISNA published on Friday, he said that Iran has fulfilled its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but the Europeans have failed to meet their commitments.

“Europe should fulfil its commitments and separate its path from the United States,” he suggested.

U.S. President Donald Trump quit the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions on Iran as part of “maximum pressure” against the country.

So far, the European signatories to the deal have not been able to guarantee Iran’s benefits from the deal.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on September 25 that the European countries have either been unable or shown no will to save the JCPOA.

Talking in a press conference in New York at the conclusion of his visit to the annual UN General Assembly late last month, he said Iran cannot be the only country that pays the price for keeping the JCPOA alive.

Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to put limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for the termination of economic and financial changes.

On May 8, exactly one year after the U.S. pulled out of the JCPOA, Tehran began reducing its commitments to the agreement at bi-monthly intervals.

In follow-up to that deadline, on July 7 Iran announced that it has started enriching uranium to a higher purity than the 3.67% as the Europeans missed the 60-day deadline to devise a concrete mechanism to protect the country from the U.S. sanctions.

In a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on September 5, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also announced that as a third step Iran stops implementing all commitments related to nuclear research and development (R&D).

France, Germany and the United Kingdom established INSTEX, a special-purpose vehicle, in January 2019 to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran in a bid to bypass the U.S. sanctions.

So far, INSTEX has not become operational despite intense efforts on all sides.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on September 28 that it depends on the Europeans that INSTEX becomes operational.

“Destiny of INSTEX depends on the Europeans to reach a conclusion that they cannot wait for the United States’ permission for everything,” he said.

NA/PA