TEHRAN - Mohsen Pakayeen, Iran’s former ambassador to Azerbaijan, has said that Europe must take a separate path from the United States.

“Europe must make efforts not to destroy the Iranian people’s trust,” he told ISNA in an interview published on Sunday.

He also said, “In recent days, the Europeans have taken unacceptable moves. They have threatened to trigger the dispute mechanism and take Iran’s case to the [UN] Security Council. This behavior shows that Europe seeks to follow the United States’ policies.”

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on January 13 that France, Germany, and the UK have bowed to “the U.S. diktat” for 20 months.

It is 20 months that the Trump administration has quit the nuclear deal and introduced sanctions against Iran while Europeans standing idle by. 

“For 20 months, the E3-following UK appeasement policy-has bowed to US diktat,” he tweeted.

Zarif said this policy “hasn’t gotten it anywhere-and it never will.” 

The chief diplomat added that the three European countries can save the 2015 nuclear deal “but not by appeasing the bully & pressuring the complying party.”

France, Germany and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement on Tuesday announcing they have formally triggered the dispute mechanism.

U.S. President Donald Trump quit the nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA, in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions in history on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran.

The European countries failed to protect Iran’s benefits from the deal and after patiently watching for more than a year and seeing no clear action from the other signatories of the nuclear deal, Iran started to partially reduce its commitments.

Iran’s action is based on articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA. Tehran has repeatedly announced it will reverse its decisions once other signatories fulfill their commitments.

In an interview with BBC published on January 14, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the JCPOA should be replaced with the “Trump deal”.

Zarif said on Friday that in this way in the future it be needed to reach “[Elizabeth] Warren’s deal” or “[Bernie] Sanders’ deal”.

“The JCPOA is an agreement between us, the United States and five other important countries and one country’s withdrawal is not accepted,” he noted.

‘Iran is in position of strength when it refuses to negotiate with U.S.’

Pakayeen also said that Iran is in a position of strength when it refuses to negotiate with the U.S.

He noted that Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not ruled out negotiation with other countries except the U.S.

“Iran is in the position of strength in refusing to negotiate and this policy comes from teachings of the Islamic Revolution,” the former diplomat said.

Ayatollah Khamenei ruled out on Friday the possibility of talks with the U.S., saying dialogue with the enemy is mixed with chicanery and deceit.

“The gentlemen behind the negotiating table are those terrorists of the Baghdad airport,” the Leader said, adding that the only path ahead of the Iranian nation is to become stronger.

“We do not fear negotiations, however, not with America,” he added.

NA/PA