EU needs to back up words with actions: Zarif

TEHRAN– In an interview with Euronews, Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran needs Europeans to put their political commitment to JCPOA into action, adding that EU is “underestimating” its power in regional peace and security.

“What we need from the Europeans is both the political commitment, which they have made, now we need to see the measures in place on the ground, not simply in writing, not simply in words — in the banking sector, in the investment sector, in the energy sector, in the transportation sector, in the SME sector,” Foreign Minister Zarif told Euronews on Tuesday, according to the  Mehr News Agency.

“I believe generally Europe is underestimating its power and its influence, we believe that it should be more active in regional peace and security, in international peace and security as well as in promoting a greater cooperation and dialogue,” he added.

Zarif went on to say, “we have good communication and coordination with Russia and with Syrian government and we will continue to do so. Our objective here is very clear, that is our objectives and the objective of the Russian Federation and that is to fight against terrorism and extremism”.

“Now if President Trump wants to take credit for it, he should take credit for supporting Daesh [ISIL] which has been what the US and its allies have been doing all along,” said Zarif.

“The fact that US arms, US weapons have been found in the hands of ISIS and other extremist organizations is documented … by western sources. So I think we should look at the realities, those who fought terrorism and extremism are Syrian people and those who work with Syrian people,” he said.

M.Wassouf