Europeans need to do more than talk if they want to preserve a deal meant to keep Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States, Iran’s foreign minister said yesterday, blasting Washington as the “biggest source of destabilization” in the Middle East.

AVA- Mohammad Javad Zarif told a gathering of world leaders, top defense officials and diplomats that a barter-type system known as INSTEX set up last month by France, Germany and Britain to allow businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran, and thereby evade possible US sanctions, is not enough.
“Many around the world, particularly on this continent, speak eloquently about multilateralism, but they also need to walk the walk,” Zarif told the Munich Security Conference in an impassioned plea.
“For instance, INSTEX falls short of the commitments by the (European countries) to save the nuclear deal. Europe needs to be willing to get wet if it wants to swim against a dangerous tide of US unilateralism.”
The three European nations, as well as Russia, China and the European Union as a whole, have been struggling to save the 2015 deal with Iran since US President Donald Trump announced the unilateral American withdrawal last year and re-imposed sanctions.
The deal promises Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear program, and so far the International Atomic Energy Agency has said Tehran has been living up to its obligations.
Those working to preserve the agreement have been trying to walk a fine line between mollifying Iran without angering Washington.
Zarif’s comments appeared directed at European assurances that INSTEX could concentrate on products not currently subject to US sanctions, such as medicine, medical supplies, and agricultural goods, rather than on broader trade.
On Saturday, US Vice President Mike Pence slammed INSTEX and urged others to abandon the nuclear deal entirely. “The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” he said before leaving Germany.
Before Pence spoke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the Iran deal, saying that while she shared concerns about Iran’s missile program, it was important to keep “the small anchor we have in order maybe to exert pressure in other areas.”
Merkel’s comments, and her defense of global diplomacy instead of go-it-alone foreign policy, drew lengthy applause.
Zarif told the conference that Pence had “arrogantly demanded that Europe must join the US in undermining its own security and breaking its obligations” and urged them to push back against American pressure.