Iran Press/ Iran News This is a problem that even senior EU officials have acknowledged.
Criticizing Europe's passive approach toward the nuclear deal at the Munich security conference on Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell admitted: "We have not been successful in fulfilling our commitments, and the financial mechanism of INSTEX has not been successful so far," adding that "However, from the European perspective, JCPOA is not over yet."
Referring to some of Europe's differences with Washington, Borrell said: "US President Donald Trump wanted to terminate what former President Barack Obama had endorsed, and the US also called for maximum pressure on Iran, but Europe should not have such an attitude."
What Borrell referred to was Europeans' disagreement with the US policy of maximum pressure on Iran, which, in their view, has not only resulted in Iran's surrender but has also put JCPOA in a complicated position.
The EU's top foreign policy official has admitted that given the US pressure and lack of will the European Union and the European Troika, they have refused to meet their obligations, in particular the effective implementation of the financial and trade interaction mechanism, the INSTEX mechanism, with Iran.
Failing to comply with JCPOA obligations and the continuation of its policy of maximum pressure against Iran, its negative results was aimed at compelling Iran to accept the twelve demands made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in May 2008.
At the same time, scrutiny of the Europeans' positions after the US withdrawed from the deal, shows how deep they fail to fulfill their obligations toward Iran. Under the pretext of gradual reduction of its JCPOA obligations which itself was a response to the EU failure to meet their obligations, the European Troika also activated the dispute settlement mechanism on January 14. Europeans have condemned Iran's five-step plan for gradual reduction of its commitment and called on Tehran to refrain from doing so and reverse these steps.
While Iran has accepted the implementation of the JCPOA within its national interests, it expects the members of the P 4+1, especially the Europeans, to fulfill their obligations under the deal. As the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran's move to reduce its commitments is within the framework of the agreement and aims at maintaining it, and Iran remains ready to engage with the EU in resolving issues.
The commitments of the Europeans include reducing the negative impact of US sanctions by creating mechanisms for the continuation of economic and trade exchange, and the continuation of Iran's oil export in the context of the INSTEX. The United States has spent much of its efforts to collapse the JCPOA and therefore, it is no surprise that Washington has supported European Troika's measures to launch the dispute settlement mechanism.
Recently, expressing regret for Europeans failure to live up to their commitments under the JCPOA, Josep Borrell has claimed that the European Union would use its full capacity to build a strong interactive relationship to save the deal. However, unless these promises are fulfilled, Borrell's remarks cannot be taken seriously.
If Europe is really serious about preserving the deal, rather than activating the dispute resolution mechanism which is what Washington wishes to see, it must fulfil its obligations under the JCPOA, particularly the efficient and effective implementation of INSTEX. Such a move would require Europeans' serious determination to get rid of American dominance and reduce Washington's ability to influence their decisions and actions.
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Written by: Seyyed Reza Mir Taher
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