Diplomat: U.S. officials’ language against Iran is ‘disastrous’
TEHRAN – Iran’s ambassador to London said on Tuesday that the Trump administration has failed to create a consensus against Iran in order to exert more pressure against the country.
“As you see, the exemptions that they have been providing for many states around the globe means that the United States has failed to create a kind of consensus among the countries to have unified sanctions against Iran,” Hamid Baeedinejad told the CNN.
He said that the U.S has started psychological warfare to frighten the Iranian people and to sabotage the country’s economy.
“But gradually we can manage to find ways and means to guarantee and continue to export oil,” he said.
Ambassador Baeedinejad says the U.S has started psychological warfare to frighten the Iranian people and to sabotage the country’s economy. The ambassador added, “We have a lot of alternatives. We have some experiences from the past and we know the difference of this time from the previous time that the countries are not ready to comply with the U.S. request. So, we have enough leverages to continue our exports.”
Iran’s senior diplomat to London went on to say that there are many medium-sized and small-sized companies which are interested in working in Iran.
“We are in close contacts with the European Union about how we can ensure continuation of medium-sized and small-sized companies’ work in Iran,” he explained.
U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the Washington out of the 2015 nuclear agreement in May and reintroduced sanctions on Iran. The first batch of sanctions were enacted in August. The second wave of sanctions, which targets Iran’s oil exports and central bank, were snapped back on November 5.
However, the U.S. has agreed to let eight countries, including Japan, India and South Korea, keep buying Iran’s oil after it re-imposes sanctions.
‘U.S. officials’ language against Iran is disastrous’
Baeedinejad also said that the U.S. officials’ language against Iran is “disastrous”.
Talking to media in Singapore on Tuesday, U.S. national security advisor John Bolton said, “We think the government is under real pressure and it’s our intention to squeeze them very hard. As the British say, squeeze them until the pips squeak.”
“We are very sorry that these languages are used which really are disastrous,” Baeedinejad said.
“We heard [U.S. Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo saying that if Iran wants to feed their nation, they should agree with the U.S. and listen to the U.S. These languages are really extraordinary and not understandable,” the diplomat regretted.
‘Contradictions in the U.S.’
Baeedinejad also said that President Trump invites President Hassan Rouhani for talks, but they set conditions for negotiations.
“So, this shows that there is no consistent policy in the United States,” he said.
During his speech at the Heritage Foundation in May, Pompeo set 12 conditions for talks with Iran for concluding a “new agreement”.
NA/PA