Iran has resisted US, Israel pressure: Foreign minister

By Mohamed Kursun

TEHRAN (AA) – Tehran has “successfully thwarted U.S. and Zionist [i.e., Israeli] efforts to pressure Iran”, Iran’s IRNA news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as saying Monday.

Addressing parliament, Zarif said: “Over the past two years, U.S. President Donald Trump has done his best to inflict blows on Iran.”

Iran, however, “is no longer relying on Europe, but is rather working to isolate the U.S.”, the foreign minister added.

He went on to describe Europe and Russia as “our primary parties in this endeavor”.

“For 30 years, Iran’s enemies have attempted to isolate us, but we have managed to overcome these attempts,” IRNA quoted Zarif as saying.

“This,” he added, “was one of the most remarkable achievements of the 2015 nuclear deal.”

In 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of nations (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) signed a landmark agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

But in May of last year, U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the deal before re-imposing sanctions targeting Iran’s banking and energy sectors.

Washington, however, has granted the largest buyers of Iranian oil -- including Turkey -- a 180-day exemption from the sanctions.