Mahmoud Vaezi, the chief of staff of the Iranian president, said the Tehran-Beijing cooperation plan has been criticized overseas.
“This [cooperation] document, whose full text has not been released yet, has immediately come under fire abroad, and they make inappropriate comments about it, which shows they are concerned over this agreement,” said Vaezi on state TV.
He said if the agreement contains commitments on both sides, then it must go through the Parliament for approval, but if it does not contain any commitments, the document will be discussed at a Cabinet meeting before being sent to Parliament which will see if the document accords with the Constitution.
He said the text of the 18-page document will be released only after it is signed.
“If we reach an agreement, the text will definitely be released, but it depends on what the outcome of talks with the other side will be about the agreement and its release. If there is confidentiality, then we will make another decision,” he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Vaezi touched upon Europe’s stance on the Iran nuclear deal.
He said the three European countries seem to be interested in preserving the nuclear deal, but cannot live up to their obligations under the US pressure.
He then weighed in on the reason for the Europeans’ flip-flop on Iran. “What the Europeans have shown so far has not been based on any logic and principle and they have acted very hesitantly,” he said.
“The Europeans are in such a situation because of their weakness in interacting with the US – they failed to reach any principles in their relations with the US,” he said.
“In my idea, the Europeans are waiting for the remaining months to the US elections to pass, and they believe Trump will not win the election; hence, they are hopeful of the future, and this goes for Europe and many other countries which have problems with Trump’s behaviour,” he noted.
