Iran pressures Europe for more effort to save nuclear deal
Munich Security Conference.Russia,China and EU to save 2015 deal
17 February, 14:11Zarif's comments appeared directed at European assurances that INSTEX could concentrate on products not currently subject to U.S. sanctions, such as medicine, medical supplies, and agricultural goods, rather than on broader trade. On Saturday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence slammed INSTEX, and urged others to abandon the nuclear deal entirely. "The time has come for our European partners to stop undermining U.S. sanctions against this murderous revolutionary regime," Pence said before leaving Germany. "The time has come for our European partners to stand with us and with the Iranian people, our allies and friends in the region. The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal." Before Pence spoke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the Iran deal, saying that while she shared concerns about Iran's missile program and regional ambitions, 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 United States in undermining its own security and breaking its obligations" and urged them to push back against American pressure. "If the United States were to come, in the course of their fight with China, and tell Europe to stop dealing with China, what would you do?" he asked. "Whatever you (would) want to do then, do now in order to prevent that eventuality." He would not comment on whether the nuclear deal will survive without the U.S. but said Iran was not prepared to renegotiate it as Trump has suggested. "Nothing can be done that is better than this deal," he said. "It's not all we want and it's certainly not all the United States wants but it's the best that can be achieved." Responding to Pence's comments that Iran was the "greatest threat to peace in the Middle East," Zarif said the U.S. had an "unhealthy fixation" with Iran and was itself the "single biggest source of destabilization in our neighborhood." "The U.S. claims, and unfortunately some blindly parrot, that it is Iran which is interfering in the region, but has it ever been asked whose region?" Zarif said. "Just glimpse at a map for a second - the U.S. military has traveled 10,000 kilometers to dot all our borders with its bases. There is a joke that it is Iran's fault that it put itself in the middle of all (the) U.S.
bases." ___ Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. DAVID RISING/