TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran has obtained documents showing that European banks are rejecting humanitarian aid from Iranians living abroad and others who tried to help the victims of floods in Iran.

Zarif made the remarks on Sunday, citing fear of U.S. punishment as the cause of such decisions.

Iran will soon release the documents, he added, the Iran newspaper reported.

Zarif also said Europeans have “no excuse” to further delay the start of an operational, non-dollar direct payment channel with Tehran.

“To implement the mechanism, Iran needed to launch a parallel mechanism, which started last week. Now the Europeans have no pretext for further delay,” he said.

MH/PA