TEHRAN – By pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, U.S. President Donald Trump showed that he is “indifferent” both toward the Iranian people and his country’s international commitments, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday.

He showed his “opposition to the people of Iran” by first of all imposing sanctions on airplanes, Zarif told reporters on Wednesday. 

“Even prior to the 6th of August when the first tier of sanctions were back, the first thing the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control did was to revoke the licenses for 200 airplanes which the people of Iran were going to use.”

“So, the Americans have a lot of explaining to do to the Iranian people. They need very much to show that, in fact, with this condensed distrust that they have created over the past years and decades, what reason Iranian people have to feel that they can talk to them.”

The chief diplomat who was heavily involved in talks with other diplomats from the 5+1 nations and the European Union in crafting the nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, said Trump’s gesture for talks with Iran was just “a promotional show”.

Zarif adding, “If it is about talks, we had two years of intense negotiations with the Americans, and the result of those intense talks was the JCPOA. And the government of Mr. Trump quit it. How can there be trust for a new agreement?

Zarif in the meantime said his ministry is working hard to reduce the negative impacts of the sanctions by facilitating commerce with other countries.

“The duty of the economic department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to facilitate the operation both of the private sector and of the state sector. What this department will do is that it will identify export facilities overseas, pave the ground for our private sector to get in contact with the private sectors of other countries, and will help the private sector reach its goals.”

“Yet a noteworthy point is that today we are somehow very seriously different from the past in that the world is standing up against American sanctions. In other words, when in the past America imposed any sanctions, because it had been endorsed by some Security Council resolutions, other countries would not only swiftly enact those sanctions, but they also passed sanctions of their own. You see that for example when America in 2012 imposed oil sanctions, the EU imposed vaster oil sanctions. Now, by contrast, the EU is saying not only will it not abide, but it will be seeking those around the world who would accompany the EU, and in fact a world consensus has been formed against America’s move,” Zarif stated

SP/PA