Earlier The Washington Post reported that the U.S. president threatened Paris, London and Berlin to impose 25 percent duties unless they accused Tehran of violating the JCPOA.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that Britain, France and Germany had “sold the rest” of the Iranian nuclear deal in exchange for US President Donald Trump’s pledge not to impose duties on European cars. Thus, the Foreign Minister commented on the relevant publication of The Washington Post.
“EuroTroika sold the remaining JCPOA in exchange for avoiding new Trump duties. That’s not how it works, folks. You only tease his appetites <…> If you want to sell your integrity, go ahead. But don’t assume high moral and legal authority. You don’t have any”, – Zarif wrote on his Twitter page.
The Washington Post on Wednesday, citing sources, claimed that Trump had threatened Paris, London and Berlin to impose a 25% toll on European cars unless they accused Iran of violating the JCPOA. She said the warning was issued a week before the said countries launched a dispute resolution mechanism for the nuclear deal on 14 January. One of the newspaper’s sources called the move “extortion” by the US.
At the same time, the newspaper’s interlocutors noted that the threat from Trump almost forced the Europeans to give up this idea out of fear that they might be considered “puppets” of Washington, if this information gets to the media.
The future of the deal came into question after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the deal on May 8, 2018 and Washington imposed sanctions on Tehran for its oil exports. According to Iran, the rest of the participants, primarily Europeans, do not fully adhere to their obligations in the economic part of the agreement, so it makes no sense in its current form. Therefore, Iran has started the phased suspension of its commitments under the JCPOA related to uranium enrichment and research activities, and in early January announced the completion of that process.