A weekly published under the auspices of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has urged President Hassan Rouhani to take firmer steps to confront Europe and the U.S.
The weekly, "Hezbollah's Line," has also accused Rouhani of disregarding the strategies set by “the Leader” for Tehran-Europe negotiations in May 2018, after Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Defending Iran's decision to drop some of its commitments under the nuclear deal, and its step by step withdrawal from the agreement, the weekly has insisted that the highest authorities in Iran today are "unified" on the basis of "national consensus" over the necessity to confront the West.
While Iran enjoys "unity", the western governments are "desperately" seeking ways to lure Tehran back to the negotiating table, the weekly has maintained.
Referring to Khamenei's remarks in May, Hezbollah's Line dismissed Europe’s new trade mechanism, INSTEX, as "pie in the sky."
The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) is the latest European mechanism for barter-based trade with Iran designed to circumvent U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran.
"Not only INSTEX is a pie in the sky, it is also designed in the framework of sanctions Washington has imposed on Tehran," Hezbollah's Line has asserted, adding, "The mechanism is devoid of a way out of the U.S. sanctions, and it does not address the problem of exporting Iranian oil."
The long piece in the weekly has also referred to Tehran's nuclear talks in 2003 and 2004, noting that the Europeans are following Washington's lead as before.
Therefore, the weekly has concluded, "The best strategy for confronting the U.S. and Europe is powerful resistance.
Hezbollah's Line is published by the Center for Preserving and Publishing the Works of the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, run by his son, mid-ranking cleric, Massoud Khamenei.
