Difficult mission awaiting German Foreign Minister in Tehran
North-Press Agency
Germany – Farhad Hami – NPA
Attempts to save the Iranian nuclear deal which was signed back in 2015 with Tehran is considered as one of the most important topics on the agenda of German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas’s visit to Tehran on Monday. In May the 8th, the Iranian President Hassan Rohani set a 60-day deadline to the European countries in order to find a way to circumvent the US sanctions imposed on Iran, otherwise, the Iranian regime will abandon its commitments regarding the nuclear agreement terms.
Mr. Maas’s visit to Tehran was coordinated with the French and the British, aiming to defuse the rising Us-Iranian tensions on one hand, and to resume the nuclear deal on the other hand, but the Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Jawad Zarif preempted Mass’s visit to Tehran, and refused the German mediation, stressing at the same time on the necessity of the European countries’ move to normalize trade relations with Tehran where its economy suffers from the US sanctions pressures, after being prevented from selling oil resources abroad.
Iranian extortion
Among Iranian pressure means for extorting German Minister and the other European countries who signed the nuclear agreement will be the Afghan refugees living in Iran, estimated about three million people, especially that Hassan Rohani had already threatened European countries in early May to let these large crowds leave to Europe, a scenario irritating European countries. Mr. Maas also refused Zarif’s statements that the nuclear activities could resume if the European countries didn’t commit to normalizing trade ties with Tehran.
Maas’s priorities
A top priority for the German Foreign Minister efforts is to persuade Iranians not to carry out their threats of the non-commitment to some terms of the nuclear agreement after the deadline comes to an end, Minister Maas is likely to do his best to give more time to the so-called “trade exchange support mechanism”, a financial mechanism founded by Germany, France, and Britain for trade exchange in order to avoid the US sanctions imposed on Tehran after the announcement of President Trump about his country’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran.
According to recent German Foreign Ministry statements, it’s likely that Maas will be decisive in reproaching Iranis by cutting off their support to Iraqi’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), The Houthi group, Hezbollah and other groups backed by the The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, as well as the repercussions of developing local ballistic missile system on Israeli security, especially, that Maas is very well-known among the German society, that he entered the world of politics because he was influenced by the tragedy of “Jews Genocide by Hitler”, while it’s highly expected that he will discuss the protection of Israeli security by the threats posed by Iran, therefore, he’s like Donald Trump, Netanyahu and perhaps some Gulf states which came out with a common attitude against Tehran in the recent Mecca summit, but the impact remains limited, according to observers.
Iran, which is supposed to become a “normal” state, according to the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s vision, will resist to these pressures by its military and security influence deployments in the region, while refuses to negotiate with the United States, unless it doesn’t lift sanctions imposed by the US, the thing that is totally being refused by President Trump, thus, Tehran will try to move to a second step through establishing ties with the European side in order to normalize the trade relations, and to find a commercial access for exporting oil.
Observers suggest, that the United States will not allow Tehran to find commercial access, as the US will put enormous pressure on France, Germany, and the UK through its financial system in order to block any expected economic activities with Tehran based on the European side, so Mr. Maas’s mission of convincing the Iranians looks extremely difficult, despite the Europeans being proud on undertaking a successful diplomacy regarding the Iranian issue, aiming to prevent a war scenario with Iran, on the contrary to the United States, in which it employs a strategy of force and imposes a direct economic sanctions.