Parts of European Parliament text on Iran ties false, unconstructive: Iran
Iran says parts of a document set to be reviewed by the European Parliament on the future of the relations between the European Union (EU) and Iran are false, and their inclusion in the document is “questionable.”
Referring to the draft report titled “EU strategy towards Iran after the nuclear agreement,” Bahram Qassemi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said parts of the resolution are positive but there are other parts that are not based on facts.
“Although there is positive content in the resolution that allows hope and can contribute to the expansion of the ties between Iran and the EU and can open a new horizon in bilateral relations, there is [also] content, particularly on the situation of human rights in Iran, that is not in accordance with the facts on the ground and is partially influenced by negative campaigning by anti-Iran circles,” Qassemi said.
Such content, he said, is not conducive to the betterment of the relations between the Islamic Republic and the EU.
“While human rights negotiations are set to be held between Iran and the EU in the near future, the adoption of such positions is questionable and unconstructive and does not in any way help elevate the human rights discourse and [only] reinforces speculations of intervention in our country’s domestic affairs,” he said.
Qassemi also said that while the resolution had a merely advisory nature and was not binding, the members of the European Parliament had better be more realistic and more forward-looking.
The draft report is set to be voted on next Thursday. It foresees the normalization of the bloc’s ties with Iran following the 2015 nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and six world powers. The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy coordinated for the talks that culminated in the deal.
Authored by Richard Howitt, who represents Britain’s Labour Party at the European Parliament, the document “welcomes Iran’s contribution to the fight against ISIS,” referring to Daesh by an English acronym but also criticizes Iran’s human rights record.
