“Iran Must Start Dialogue with Anti-Trump Americans”

“We should not shut the door on diplomacy with the US, as America is not just Trump,” said Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

Speaking to IRNA, Falahatpisheh said figures inside the US have been showing opposition with Trump’s maximum pressure policy on Iran, demonstrated by August announcements by J.P. Morgan and Citibank, two top American financial institutions, that they will not commit to cutting Iranian access to international markets.

Falahatpisheh said Iran should start making efforts to de-escalate tensions with the US and work in line with Americans who believe Trump is pushing the US towards isolation or seek to prevent further deterioration of US-Iran ties.

“We should talk with politicians, officials and others who can prevent the imposition of broad sanctions against Iran,” he said.

Trump, who has been hardening the line on Iran since coming to power in January, withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal early May.

Afterwards, Trump reinstated parts of anti-Iran sanctions suspended under the nuclear accord weeks ago and he is set to restore sanctions on oil and transactions with the central bank of Iran in November.

Washington is also pushing the world to cut trade with Iran and stop purchasing the country’s oil.

This is while other signatories to the nuclear deal and other countries have censured the US exit from the JCPOA and are working to salvage the accord.

 

Iran’s JCPOA Strategy Worked

Falahatpisheh said JCPOA-related developments following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal shows the world is not just America.

The lawmaker said exemptions from anti-Iran sanctions given to certain countries, including the US administration’s green light to a gas field partly owned by Iran in the North Sea to keep operating, shows the US government has been disappointed with the maximum pressure policy.

Falahatpisheh said Europe’s anti-US position regarding the JCPOA testifies that Iran’s soft line on the US and its cooperative stance on JCPOA have worked and Tehran should strengthen this policy.

The lawmaker said a verdict by the International Court of Justice earlier this month demanding the US not to take certain moves against Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s repeated confirmation of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program further shows the current US holds not much leverage on global bodies.

The EU announced last month it will work to create a special mechanism the EU to facilitate trade with Iran known as Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

European officials have announced the mechanism could also be used by other countries, protecting Iran from efforts by the US to hamper its Asia and Europe trade.