Araghchi calls on Europe to engage in dialogue, avoid sanctions
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the European countries to engage in dialogue with Iran and avoid sanctions, saying that sanctions only complicate the problems.
The Iranian foreign minister in an interview with the German news website Der Spiegel warned of major challenges the world would face after the 2015 Iran nuclear deal expires on October 25, 2025.
“Sanctions only complicate the problems. They have never helped to solve a problem, at least not in Iran. My message is: Forget the sanctions! They didn’t work in the past, they aren’t working now and they won’t work in the future,” Araghchi said.
“My question to the Germans is why have you suddenly taken a confrontational approach toward Iran despite your positive experiences with negotiations? If the Europeans, if the Germans want to take a confrontational approach, that is of course their decision, not ours,” Araghchi said.
US president-elect Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the UNSC-endorsed agreement in May 2018, and imposed severe economic sanctions against Tehran while Iran was adhering to its commitments under the deal and even continued to do so for a year after the US withdrawal.
Tehran scaled back its commitments to the JCPOA in a series of pre-announced and clear steps after witnessing the other parties’ failure, especially the European ones, to secure its interest under the agreement.
Pointing to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza which has claimed the lived of more than 34,000 Palestinians since October 2023, the Iranian foreign minister urged the European countries, especially the Germany, to stop supporting the regime.
He denounced the German government for refusing to condemn Israel’s crimes in the Gaza Strip and to impose sanctions on the regime for the crimes it has been committing in the Palestinian territory as well as Lebanon over the past year.
“The Israeli embassy and Israeli consulates have not been closed. The murder of the Palestinian people by Israel is not important to you. It is this arrogance of Europe that has led to the current conflict. Set aside your double standards for once, and then maybe we will have a chance for understanding,” Araghchi told Der Spiegel.
Referring to Hamas’ operation against Israel in 2023, the Iranian top diplomat said, “That was a decision made by Hamas. They didn’t include us. Only history will tell if this decision was appropriate. In any case, this operation is the result of 80 years of occupation of the land of the Palestinian people, their expulsion and murder. Two million people were robbed of their self-determination and put in a big prison called ‘Gaza’.”
He also said that the Palestinian people should not be punished for what the Germans did to the Jews decades ago.
He was referring to the six million Jews who were murdered by the by the Germany’s Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945.