Iran’s threats do it no favors

When they approach other nations to seek help over the economic crisis they face, it appears that Iranian politicians either do not understand diplomatic language, or are too arrogant to use it. 

Iran presented European countries with a list of demands for compensation for the consequences of US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. Otherwise, they are ready to resume their nuclear deal, and the consequences do not seem to matter to them.

Europe has faced difficult choices since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in May. Most private companies have ended their business relationships with Iran, to avoid possible penalties by the US Treasury for violating US sanctions. Some European countries want to try to save the nuclear deal, but they have been disappointed by Iran’s aggressive and hostile behavior. 

The remaining signatories to the deal — the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China — met Iranian representatives in Vienna last Friday to discuss its future. Before the meeting, the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, urged Iran to stop issuing threats about violating the deal. Such threats did not help the creation of an economic compensation package, he said. 

And these are not the only threats emanating from Tehran. President Hassan Rouhani has said that if Iran is prevented from exporting its oil by pressure on other countries from the US, then no one else will be able to export their oil. This has been interpreted as a clear threat to block oil shipments from the Gulf states through the Strait of Hormuz, and was supported by  Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The threat may also extend to the Bab Al-Mandab waterway between Yemen and Djibouti, where shipping may be disrupted by Iran-backed Houthi militias. 

In discussions last week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, Rouhani said that since the US withdrawal Iran had been dealing with economic issues and problems in banking relations and oil, and that foreign companies were skeptical about continuing their business there. 

He described the package of incentives proposed by European countries to encourage continued trade with Iran as “disappointing,” and said they “lacked an operational solution and a specific method for cooperation, and featured just a set of general commitments.”

Clearly the Iranians are disappointed with what is on offer. Equally clearly, European ministers are having difficulty in making any specific promises to Tehran. Perhaps this is the reason the ministerial meeting in Vienna to discuss the nuclear deal was so brief, and lasted for only two hours. 

The European Union says it is keen for the nuclear deal to survive, but it need time to come up with the necessary economic packages, and they cannot be prepared before November. This, of course, is when Trump is expected to reintroduce sanctions on the Iranian oil industry. 

It appears that the EU is trying to buy time, to see if Trump is prepared to offer some exemptions to the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, and to see if the Iranians agree to new talks with the US on other issues of concern.

As Julie Andrews sang: “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, in the most delightful way.”

• Camelia Entekhabifard is an Iranian-American journalist, political commentator and author of Camelia: Save Yourself By Telling the Truth (Seven Stories Press, 2008). Twitter: @CameliaFard