{"id":29842,"date":"2019-01-19T23:23:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T23:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=29842"},"modified":"2019-01-19T23:23:28","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T23:23:28","slug":"europes-patience-with-iran-wears-thin-tiptoes-toward-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=29842","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s patience with Iran wears thin, tiptoes toward Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBRUSSELS\/PARIS: In Tehran on Jan. 8 during a meeting with European envoys, Iranian officials abruptly stood up, walked out and slammed the door in an extraordinary break with protocol.<\/p>\n

\nThe French, British, German, Danish, Dutch, and Belgian diplomats in the Iranian Foreign Ministry room had incensed the officials with a message that Europe could no longer tolerate ballistic missile tests in Iran and assassination plots on European soil, according to four EU diplomats.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere was a lot of drama, they didn\u2019t like it, but we felt we had to convey our serious concerns,\u201d one of the diplomats said. \u201cIt shows the relationship is becoming more tense,\u201d a second said.<\/p>\n

\nAn Iranian official declined to comment on the meeting.<\/p>\n

\nThe next day, the EU imposed its first sanctions on Iran since world powers agreed the 2015 Vienna nuclear arms control deal with Tehran.<\/p>\n

\nThe sanctions were largely symbolic but the stormy meeting encapsulated the unexpected shift in European diplomacy since the end of last year. Smaller, more dovish EU countries have joined France and Britain in a harder stance on Tehran, including considering new economic sanctions, diplomats say.<\/p>\n

\nThose could include asset freezes and travel bans on Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards and Iranians developing the Islamic Republic\u2019s ballistic missile program, three diplomats said.<\/p>\n

\nThe new approach moves Europe closer to US President Donald Trump\u2019s policy of isolating Iran with tough sanctions even though European governments still support the 2015 Vienna deal from, which he withdrew in May.<\/p>\n

\nAlthough there are diverging views in Europe, the shift could have consequences for President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s government as it looks to European capitals to salvage that deal.<\/p>\n

\nIt could also strengthen anti-Western sentiment in Iran and lead to more aggressive Iranian moves around the Middle East, where the Islamic Republic is involved in proxy wars with its main regional rival Saudi Arabia.\"\"<\/p>\n

\nIran\u2019s firing of short-range ballistic missiles into Syria on Sept. 30, missile tests and a satellite launch this month have niggled Western powers.<\/p>\n

\nFor\u00a0 Europe, alleged assassination plots by Iran on French and Danish soil in 2018 were the last straw, diplomats say.<\/p>\n

\nTehran denies the plots and says the missile tests are purely defensive. \u201cThe accusations against Iran over the past few months have awoken a few countries in Europe that were against a tougher line on Iran,\u201d a European-based Middle East diplomat said.<\/p>\n

\nThe same day as the meeting, the Netherlands publicly blamed Iran for killings on its soil in 2015 and 2017. Tehran denies any involvement. Then on Jan. 9, the EU designated a unit of Iran\u2019s Intelligence Ministry a terrorist organization, froze its assets and those of two men.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTake the Dutch for example. They had kept very quiet until the Danish attack and now they are more hawkish than the French,\u201d said the diplomat.<\/p>\n

\nAlarmed by Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d policy, Europe considered his May 8 decision to pull out of the Iran accord a severe setback but Iran\u2019s international ambitions appear to offer Brussels and Washington a chance to work more closely.<\/p>\n

\nA US State Department official said there was now \u201ca growing international consensus\u201d on the range of Iranian threats.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe US welcomes Europe\u2019s efforts to counter Iranian terrorism on European soil, its missile launches, human rights abuses, and other threats,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nDialogue falters<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nAs the Trump administration accused Iran last year of harboring nuclear ambitions and fomenting instability in the Middle East through its support for militant groups in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, the EU sought dialogue with Tehran.<\/p>\n

\nAt meetings between European and Iranian diplomats last year, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, pressed for gestures on Iran\u2019s role in Syria\u2019s war and for help to end the conflict in Yemen.<\/p>\n

\nBut multiple bilateral talks on the ballistic missile program have yielded no results.<\/p>\n

\nThe EU tried to show Iran that compliance with the nuclear accord would still mean economic benefits despite Trump\u2019s decision to reimpose US sanctions and choke off Iranian oil exports by pressuring US allies.<\/p>\n

\nThe EU is set to officially launch a mechanism, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) to trade with Iran later this month but it will not be operational for several months.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0It will be registered in France, run by a German and likely to include Britain as a shareholder.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere\u2019s a feeling of frustration among Britain, France and Germany, and others, after the first phase of diplomacy with Iran,\u201d another senior EU diplomat said. \u201cWe thought we could get some effort from the Iranians in several areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIran says Europe may not be able to safeguard the nuclear deal anyway and accused European officials of dragging their feet.<\/p>\n

\nIranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said last week \u201coperational steps\u201d were needed from Europe as political support not enough.<\/p>\n

\nAyatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran\u2019s powerful Assembly of Experts said on Thursday Europe \u201cwould do nothing in our interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe Europeans are worse than the Americans. If not, they are not any better,\u201d he said, state TV reported.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nEU disagreements<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nLast March, as part of efforts to convince Trump to stick to the nuclear deal, France, Britain and Germany proposed asset freezes and travel bans on the IRGC and Iranian companies and groups developing the missile program, according to a document seen by Reuters.<\/p>\n

\nNow, a similar set of measures is being prepared, three diplomats say.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe\u2019d prefer not to take these measures, but they need to stop trying to kill people on our territory and over the last three years they have beefed up their ballistic program,\u201d said one senior European diplomat.<\/p>\n

\nThe diplomats say getting all 28 EU members to agree will take time.<\/p>\n

\nThe EU\u2019s top diplomat Federica Mogherini, who helped seal the 2015 deal, is wary of moving too fast for fear of provoking a complete collapse of the accord, four diplomats said.<\/p>\n

\nEU foreign ministers planned to issue a rare joint statement on Jan. 21 about what they say is Iran\u2019s interference in the region and calling for an end to missile tests. Diplomats said Mogherini wants to see the SPV established first.<\/p>\n

\nAn EU official denied any split in policy between Mogherini and EU governments, saying the statement will be published as soon as the SPV is launched.<\/p>\n

\nEU diplomats said eastern European governments could also go too far against Iran to please Trump in return for security guarantees against Russia.<\/p>\n

\nEU diplomats said there was a risk that a two-day conference in Poland in February focused on the Middle East, particularly Iran, convened by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could divide eastern and western Europe.<\/p>\n

\nMogherini is unable to attend due to another official engagement, an EU official said, and it is not clear at what level France, Britain and Germany will be represented.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere are clearly risks in attending,\u201d another diplomat said. \u201cWhile we don\u2019t think Iran will withdraw from the nuclear deal, we don\u2019t need to force them into the abyss and deepen an arms race in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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