Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has condemned the US for vowing to impose what it said would be the “strongest sanctions in history” on his country.
Measures outlined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he said, showed the US was a prisoner of its “failed policies” and it would suffer the consequences.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also criticised the US.
She said Mr. Pompeo had failed to show how dropping the 2015 nuclear deal would make the Middle East safer.
There was, she said, “no alternative” to the agreement, which US President Donald Trump vowed earlier this month to abandon, and she said the EU would stick by it if Iran met its commitments.
Despite the EU’s official position, some of Europe’s biggest firms who rushed to do business with Iran after the nuclear deal now find themselves forced to choose between investing there or trading with the US.
Iran is one of the world’s largest oil producers, and the export of oil and gas is worth billions of dollars each year.
Follow TKG on Twitter & Facebook
