Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has criticized a letter three European powers have sent to UN’s secretary general asking for a full report on Islamic Republic’s missile activities.
Zarif has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to appease U.S. President Donald trump. In their letter the three countries have accused Iran of developing missile technology “inconsistent” with UN resolution 2231, which wrapped up the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and called for limiting Tehran’s missile program.
In a tweet on April 3, Zarif wrote that a year after the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement known as JCPOA, “Europe can’t muster the will to defy US’ #EconomicTERRORISM.”
This is the third day in a row that Zarif tweets about “economic terrorism”, referring to economic sanctions Washington reimposed on Iran during 2018.
He goes on to complain about lack of action by Europe in “setting up a single banking channel for humanitarian aid”. The three countries according to Zarif are “busy appeasing” Trump by pressuring UN over our defensive capabilities”.
It is not clear what Zarif means by "a single channel for humanitarian aid". Europe has set up a trade mechanism to help Iran do business with EU countries, in effect avoiding U.S. sanctions. The mechanism has not started operations yet.
U.S. sanctions do not ban purchase of food and medicine and verifiable humanitarian aid.
Iran has dragged its feet by delaying the adoption of a legal framework to abide by international conventions against money laundering and financial support for terrorism. It appears that Europe’s activation of the trade mechanism and Iran’s adoption of the legal framework are interconnected.
