Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, June 9, 2019 – The recent Europe tour of U.S. President Donald Trump showed more than ever before that the European Union will not act as the Iranian regime’s safe heaven to circumvent the sanctions imposed on its energy sector. Quite to the contrary, EU countries are more or less aligned with the current U.S. administration’s strategic goals regarding vis-à-vis Iran.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent accusation of Tehran “championing terrorism” across the Middle East, during Trump’s visit, was the coup de grace to so-called Iranian reformists bet on driving a wedge between Western countries. This took the controversy and domestic infightings between the ruling factions in Iran to a whole new level.
On June 8, the Keyhan newspaper, known as the mouthpiece of Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, published significant remarks on this subject.
“When it comes to enmity with Iran[‘s regime], Trump and Macron put aside their differences.”
“The French and U.S. presidents’ recent remarks about the Islamic Republic shows a crawling project to undermine, contain, and if possible, stop the advance and development of the Islamic Republic by putting obstacles before Iran’s strategic depth and regional influence.”
“The anti-Iranian project, also known as the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, with the ‘good cop bad cop’ scenario, is a puzzle which some so-called reformists with their pipe dreams for the JCPOA,” the piece adds in a lashing of the faction close to Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani. “They are willingly or unwillingly agree with talks about the necessity of negotiating with Europe over the next weeks and months.”
Referring to the newly imposed sanctions on the regime’s petrochemical industry by the U.S. Treasury Department, Keyhan describes the Trump administration’s willingness to talk with the Iranian regime as a “ridiculous gesture of negotiation.”
“From the viewpoint of the governments of America (both Democrats and Republicans), and Washington’s European allies, negotiation are nothing but a tool to impose pressure. Sitting at the negotiating table with the U.S. means criticizing the very issues for which the path was paved through pressure,” the piece adds.
Vatanemrooz, another newspaper close to Khamenei’s faction, also published an article titled “The JCPOA’s heart attack in the Normandy,” quoting the French president saying the differences between the U.S. and European countries about Iran is not strategic.
The newspaper then attacks Rouhani’s cabinet which was capitalizing on the rift between Europe and the U.S. “The policy of giving Europe time has been completely futile and only holds back the country. Additionally, the people impacted by the current economic situation are paying the price of this approach. Therefore, we should consider the 60-day ultimatum to Europe as ended on day 29.”
Resalat newspaper, also close to the Supreme Leader’s faction, even asks for the French ambassador to Tehran’s expulsion. “Macron’s recent statements means the French are insisting on ‘battling Iran.’”
“It is obvious that to confront a criminal who insists on his crime, you don’t issue diplomatic and rehashed statements! The very least precondition to decisively confront the French in the current situation is to remove Paris from our country’s foreign relations equation,” the article reads.
“Under such circumstances, the continued presence of the French ambassador to Tehran (as an unwanted individual) has no meaning anymore and the ‘expulsion of the French ambassador’ must be on the agenda of the diplomatic and foreign relations apparatus of our country,” the newspaper concludes.
