• Tweeter
  • republish

Iranian President Hassan Rohani (c) at Tabriz airport, northwest Iran, August 1, 2019. HO / Iranian Presidency / AFP

In the aftermath of the announcement of US sanctions against Iran's top diplomat, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on Thursday that Washington was showing " fear ."

The sanctions announced by the Trump administration against the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, reflect a
" puerile " on the part of the United States, said Thursday the Iranian President Hassan Rohani. " A country that thinks it is powerful and a world superpower is afraid of the statements of our Foreign Minister, " said Hassan Rohani. The Iranian head of state was visibly referring to the interviews given by the Iranian foreign minister to the US media during his visit to the UN in late July .

See also: Washington sanctions the head of Iranian diplomacy

" Americans use childish behavior. They repeat every day, "we want to discuss without preconditions," and they punish the Minister of Foreign Affairs, "said Hassan Rohani whose remarks have been reported by the national television. " It means they have lost the ability to rational reasoning ," the Iranian president added.

In a tweet President Rohani points out that the " White House is scared " by Javad Zarif's " diplomatic abilities ".

FM @JZarif designation indicates that White House is frightened by his diplomatic capabilities. If they're serious about negotiations, who else can the FM be their interlocutor? Zarif heads Islamic Republic's diplomacy & ably talks & negotiates on behalf of the entire nation.

Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) August 1, 2019

This decision comes as Mohammad Javad Zarif recently traveled to New York to attend a UN meeting. He took the opportunity to give many interviews to American television channels.
From now on, his travels in New York will be more difficult and he will have less access to the American media.

The move comes as President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated in recent weeks that he is ready for unconditional negotiations with Tehran on his nuclear program. But the dialogue now seems impossible. Especially since it will strengthen the camp of the tough guys who have always said that we can not trust the Americans, reports our correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi .

EU "regrets" these sanctions

The European Union " regrets " the sanctions decided by the United States, announced Thursday a spokesman of the head of European diplomacy Federica Mogherini. " We regret this decision, " said Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordejuela. " For our part, we will continue to work with Mr. Zarif as Iran's most senior diplomat and because of the importance of maintaining diplomatic relations " with Tehran, he said.

Voice of Iran on the international stage, Javad Zarif is the main interlocutor of the Europeans, China and Russia, still involved in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal violently denounced by the United States, who 'are withdrawn in May 2018.

Washington's " contradictory " policy

While announcing the sanctions against Javad Zarif, Washington has extended for 90 days key authorizations for three ongoing projects under the Iranian civilian nuclear program. " This is a short-term extension ," said John Bolton, President Trump's national security advisor. " We are looking very closely at these nuclear activities ."

Two decisions that are therefore contradictory, but which reflect the whole of the American policy on Iran according to the researcher at IRIS - the Institute of International and Strategic Relations - and Iran expert Thierry Coville.

"Everything is almost contradictory in the American policy on Iran. Which, in my opinion, is a big part of the problem. Because we must remember anyway, the United States come out of the agreement in May 2018 and a few days later, Mike Pompeo establishes twelve conditions that Iran must respect for negotiations to open. These twelve points - all experts will tell you - it is impossible for Iran to accept them. So, somewhere the negotiation was blocked, "says Thierry Coville.

" A few weeks ago, Donald Trump begins to say," I am ready to meet the Iranian leaders unconditionally. " Which is a total evolution of the American strategy on Iran. But we can see that in Trump's team - one - there is no clear strategy - and two - we have two camps that clash, "concludes Thierry Coville.

Washington seeks a pretext for a conflict in the Gulf, according to Moscow

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it felt the US was looking for a pretext to start a conflict in the Gulf
Arab-Persian, reports the Ria news agency. " The events on the ground are really moving towards a dangerous point and there is the risk of a large-scale military clash ," said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the
Russian diplomacy, quoted by the news agency. " In general, we have the feeling that Washington is simply seeking a pretext to worsen the situation, to continue its aggressive rhetoric about
Iran and move to a warmer phase of the conflict, "she added.