Iran, India can counter US’ illegal sanctions, bullying, says Zarif

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has lauded ties, especially economic relations, with India, expressing confidence that Tehran and New Delhi will counter the US’ “illegal” measures, sanctions and bullying.  

“Relations with India have always been important. India is an important neighbor,” Zarif said in an interview with NDTV in New Delhi on Wednesday, adding that Iran and India had “common security concerns” as well as regional concerns regarding the situation in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf region.

“We have done trade with each other for centuries, so it’s very difficult for an outside power to come and intervene in these relations … what the Unites States is asking is not only in violation of international law but [it is] asking others also to violate international law and Security Council resolutions,” Zarif said.

He praised India for adopting “a principled position that it will only abide by UN sanctions not by unilateral sanctions.”

The top Iranian diplomat, however, admitted that there were “economic pressures,” saying, “The Americans are using every method of arm-twisting available in the books and outside the books. That’s what they are doing illegally, unlawfully.”

“This is not a precedent that anybody wants to see created in the future that a country with whatever political, economic or military might could come and order and push other countries into violating international law and into going against their own economic interests,” he said.

He said that due to American pressure, European measures that were supposed to be adopted in complacence with their obligations under the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as well as those enshrined in UN Security Council resolutions are not yet fully materialized.

But he said that Iran has moved forward with other countries, particularly its traditional partners, including immediate neighbors as well as China and India to counter the US bans.

Zarif also expressed assurances that Iran and India would find ways to circumvent US’s illegal measures and bullying.

In the wake of US withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018 and the subsequent re-imposition of Washington’s sanctions on Iran, the European Union has been seeking to facilitate non-dollar trade with Tehran through a mechanism called the special purpose vehicle (SPV).

So far, the Europeans have failed twice to fulfill their promises to get the system up and running in order to persuade Iran to remain in the JCPOA after the US abandoned it.

Iran has been critical of the EU for failing to set up the payment mechanism, warning that the bloc should account for the “consequences” of the delay.