Engagement Requires Mutual Respect: Iran’s Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized the US government’s non-commitment to international agreements, including the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said engagement requires mutual respect.
“Mutual trust isn't a prerequisite for engagement or conflict resolution. Confidence evolves from implementation of agreements like JCPOA--unapologetically grounded in mutual mistrust. But engagement requires mutual respect, credibility & willingness to abide by one’s commitments,” Zarif said on his Twitter account on Friday.
In another tweet later in the day, Zarif slammed US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and said, “It is true that there is a real threat to our region and to international peace and security: That threat is the Trump Administration’s sense of entitlement to destabilize the world along with rogue accomplices in our region. The US must start acting like a normal state.”
On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Later on August 6, Trump signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.
He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country.
Trump also restated his opinion that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was a “horrible, one-sided deal”.
Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
