Raeisi to Macron:
Europeans misled by terrorists’ misinformation
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi on Saturday warned European governments against being caught in a “trap of misinformation” provided by anti-Iran groups.
“The miscalculations made by several European governments about the Iranian nation stem from falling into a trap of misinformation fed by terrorist, separatist, and opposition groups,” Raeisi told his French counterpart Emanuel Macron during a 90-minute phone conversation.
He urged these countries to stop interference in Iran’s internal affairs and “respect its national sovereignty”.
The Iranian president also touched upon the negotiations on removal of sanctions and urged the parties to the talks to avoid unconstructive measures in the negotiations.
The ongoing war in Ukraine was also part of the conversation between the two presidents. Raeisi repeated Iran’s opposition to the war in Ukraine, saying that Tehran believes that diplomacy is the best way to resolve the conflict.
The French president, for his part, said Iran is a part of the solution to the Ukraine crisis and called for Iran’s greater role in this regard.
He also stressed that France is seeking interaction with Iran and called for continuation of talks between the officials of the two countries to strengthen bilateral relations.
Iran showed to the world the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by signing a landmark nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with six states. However, Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 and its subsequent re-imposition of sanctions against Tehran left the future of the deal in limbo.
Negotiations started in the Austrian capital city of Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of removing anti-Iran sanctions and examining the United States’ seriousness in rejoining the accord.
The talks, however, have been stalled since August 2022 due to Washington’s insistence on not removing all the sanctions and its failure to offer necessary guarantees that it will not abandon the deal again.
In a statement at a session of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on June 7, Iran’s permanent representative at the United Nations office in Vienna, Mohsen Naziri Asl, urged the European governments to avoid “provocative and unconstructive attitudes” towards the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear program and work towards the resolution of disputes.