European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said the US cannot dictate its policies to Europe, stressing that the 28-member bloc will not allow Washington to decide for its trade ties with Iran.
“We are working, as a union of 28 member states and with the rest of the international community, to preserve a nuclear agreement that has so far been implemented in full, as certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 13 consecutive reports,” Livemint website quoted Mogherini as saying in an interview published on Tuesday.
“Part of this work requires us to guarantee that firms wanting to do legitimate business with Iran are allowed to do so. This is what we are working on right now: tools that will assist, protect, and reassure economic actors pursuing legitimate business with Iran,” she said.
Mogherini added, “We Europeans cannot accept that a foreign power — even our closest friend and ally — makes decisions over our legitimate trade with another country. This is a basic element of sovereignty, and it is only natural that this reflection takes place, not only in Europe but in other parts of the world, too.”
Meanwhile, in an article titled ‘twelve things to bring with us in 2019’ which was published in her weblog on Wednesday, Mogherini said efforts to implement the Special Purpose Vehicle for trade (SPV) will continue into 2019.
She referred to the EU efforts to safeguard the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the most significant political event of 2018 and stressed that they will continue into the new year as well.
Pointing to the US unilateral withdrawal from the deal in 2018, Mogherini reiterated the JCPOA signatories commitment to preserving the deal.
“On behalf of the other countries that negotiated and concluded the deal, I confirmed the international community’s determination to preserve the deal and its implementation,” she wrote in her weblog.
Emphasizing the outcomes of the meeting with the Foreign Ministers of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and Iran which was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the EU top diplomat said, “European countries have started preparations to create a mechanism to let our firms continue their legitimate business with Iran.”
“The work continues in 2019,” she reiterated.
Source: Iranian media
