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Al-Monitor – As Iran and Europe scramble to save the Iranian nuclear deal, the EU’s commissioner for energy and climate traveled to Iran to meet with Iranian officials. Miguel Arias Canete tweeted a picture of his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and wrote about the need to “defend and fully implement” the Iran deal. He added that Europe is “committed to protecting EU investments and boosting EU-Iran trade relations.”
Canete also met with other Iranian officials. During a press conference with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Canete said that as long as Iran remains committed to the JCPOA, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Europe will remain committed as well. Salehi had suggested that Iran could return to the 20% enrichment of the pre-deal levels if Europe was not able to remain in the nuclear deal. During another meeting, Canete and Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, discussed the issue of continuing Iran’s oil exports in the face of renewed US sanctions.
While Zarif has been meeting with European officials in an attempt to save the nuclear deal, he has been battling domestic rivals at home. During a closed-door session in parliament, Zarif updated members of parliament on “guarantees” from Europe given the US exit from the deal. On negotiations between Europe and Iran, according to Iranian parliamentarian Mohammad Reza Rezaei Kochi, Zarif described the nuclear deal as “a person close to death in the ICU and under difficult conditions.”
Kochi added that the main issue on whether European political leaders could deliver on their promises to keep European companies invested in Iran has more to do with the relationship between European companies and their governments. Kochi said that many of the European companies are private entities and have shareholders in the United States. Thus, it remains to be seen whether they would take direction from their own governments or instead side with US policies.
Parliamentarian Ali Motahari said that Zarif’s negotiations with Europe were positive, but that “everything depends on the next two, three weeks.” Motahari added that one of the major discussions that took place at a closed-door session at the Iranian parliament was a bill regarding the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, a Paris-based group that tracks money laundering. According to Motahari, “problems with the bill” regarding the task force were resolved between parliament, the supreme leader’s office and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani. The bill seeks to implement reforms that would lead to Iran’s removal from a “black list” of countries that are monitored by the task force.
While Iranian officials from the administration are pinning their hopes on Europe, conservative Iranian officials are mostly convinced that the nuclear deal is dead. In an interview with Fars News, Iranian parliamentarian Mohammad Dehghan said the United States wants three things from Iran, which Europe also wants: Iran’s nuclear program limited permanently, Iran’s missile capabilities limited and Iran to pull back on its regional influence. Dehghan said that Europe wants the same things, and that the United States and Europe are essentially playing a game of good cop-bad cop with Iran.
