Tehran
Iran’s President-elect, Massoud Pezechkian, said he looked forward to improved ties with Europe, while accusing them of breaking promises to ease the impact of U.S. sanctions.
Pezeshkian won a runoff election against ultra-conservative Said Djalili on July 6.
The 69-year-old has called for a “constructive relationship” with the West to “bring Iran out of isolation” and supports a revival of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.
Washington unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, leading Iran to gradually reduce its commitments to the terms of the agreement, which was aimed at curbing its nuclear activities and which Iran says is for peaceful purposes.
Writing in the English-language Tehran Times newspaper late on Friday, Pezeshkian said that after the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, European countries had said they would try to salvage the agreement and ease the impact of US sanctions.
“Europeans have broken all these promises,” Pezeshkian wrote.
“Despite these missteps, I am willing to engage in constructive dialogue with European countries, based on the principles of mutual respect and equal footing, to steer our relations in the right direction.”
European Union spokeswoman Nabila Maslari earlier congratulated Pezeshkian on his election victory, adding that the 27-nation bloc “stands ready to engage with the new government in line with the EU’s critical engagement policy.”
Pezeshkian is a cardiac surgeon whose only previous government experience was as health minister about 20 years ago.
The elections, not scheduled until 2025, were necessitated by the death of ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Pezeshkian is considered a “reformist” in Iran and was the only candidate from his camp allowed to run in the elections, with all candidates approved by Iran’s Guardian Council.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all major policy issues in the country.
Under the hard-won deal in 2015, Iran agreed to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of crippling international sanctions.
Following the US withdrawal and reimposition of sanctions, Iran gradually began to renege on its commitments to the deal.
The parties to the 2015 agreement with Iran saw it as the best way to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb, which Iran has always denied.
In addition to the UK, China and Russia, European Union members France and Germany also joined the pact.
European countries tried to save it, but Iran blamed them for inaction.
