TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's president warned Wednesday, January 15, 2020 that European soldiers in the Mideast “could be in danger” after three nations challenged Tehran over breaking the limits of its nuclear deal.
Tehran's top diplomat, meanwhile, acknowledged that Iranians “were lied to” for days following the Islamic Republic's accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people.
President Hassan Rouhani's remarks in a televised Cabinet meeting represent the first direct threat he's made to Europe as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States (US) from the deal in May 2018.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's admission, which came at a summit in New Delhi on Wednesday, represents the first time an Iranian official referred to earlier claims from Tehran that a technical malfunction downed the Ukraine International Airlines flight as a lie. The shootdown has sparked days of angry protests in the country.
The current tensions between Iran and the US reached fever-pitch two weeks ago with the American drone strike in Baghdad that killed the powerful Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani. The general had led Iranian proxy forces abroad, including those blame for deadly roadside bomb attacks on US troops in Iraq.
Iran retaliated with a ballistic missile strike targeting Iraqi military bases housing US forces early last Wednesday, January 8, just before an anti-aircraft battery shot down the Ukrainian airliner taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport.
Amid all of this, Britain, France and Germany launched the so-called “dispute mechanism” pertaining to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Speaking before his Cabinet, Rouhani showed a rarely seen level of anger in his wide-ranging remarks Wednesday.
"Today, the American soldier is in danger. Tomorrow, the European soldier could be in danger,” Rouhani said.
He did not elaborate, though European forces have deployed alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. France also maintains a naval base in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, while Britian has opened a base in the island nation of Bahrain.
Rouhani separately criticized Europe's “baseless” words regarding the nuclear deal.
Iran had been holding out for Europe to offer a means by which Tehran could sell its oil abroad despite US sanctions. However, a hoped-for trading mechanism for other goods hasn't taken hold and a French-pitched line of credit also hasn't materialized.
After Soleimani's killing, Iran announced it would no longer abide by any of the nuclear deal's limits, which had been designed to keep Tehran from having enough material to be able to build an atomic bomb if it chose. However, Iran has said it will continue to allow the United Nations' (UN) nuclear watchdog access to its nuclear sites.
Rouhani on Wednesday also reiterated a longtime Iranian pledge that Tehran doesn't seek the bomb.
The European nations reluctantly triggered the accord’s dispute mechanism on Tuesday, January 14, to force Iran into discussions, starting the clock on a process that could result in the “snapback” of UN and European Union sanctions on Iran.
The Europeans felt compelled to act, despite objections from Russia and China, because every violation of the deal reduces the so-called “breakout time” Iran needs to produce a nuclear bomb, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told parliament.
Under the deal's limits, experts believed Iran needed a year to be able to have enough material for a weapon.
Zarif, speaking in New Delhi at the Raisina Dialogue, blamed US “ignorance” and “arrogance” for “fueling mayhem” in the Middle East. However, he also acknowledged the anger Iranians felt over the plane shootdown.
“In the last few nights, we’ve had people in the streets of Tehran demonstrating against the fact that they were lied to for a couple of days,” he said.
Zarif went onto praise Iran's military for being “brave enough to claim responsibility early on."
However, he said that he and Rouhani only learned that a missile had down the flight on Friday, January 10, raising new questions over how much power Iran's civilian government has in its Shiite theocracy. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which shot down the aircraft, knew immediately afterward its missile downed the airline.
The Guard is answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is expected to preside over Friday prayers in Iran for the first time in years over anger about the crash.
But there was a sense that the chance for immediate further retaliation by Iran against the US may have lifted.
Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard, said in a speech that Iran's “war project was closed since the people stood” against American pressure.
“Now, we are moving toward peace,” Salami said. (AP)