Rouhani asks Europe for guarantees on banking channels, oil sales

28 Aug, 2018

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday urged the remaining signatories to its 2015 nuclear agreement to act to save the pact, though France's leader called again for broader talks on Tehran's missile program and its role in the Middle East region. In a phone call to French President Emmanuel Macron, Rouhani said Iran wanted the Europeans to give guarantees on banking channels and oil sales as well as in the field of insurance and transportation, according to the state-run Iranian news agency IRNA.
"Iran has acted upon all its promises in the nuclear agreement and, with attention to the one-sided withdrawal of America ... expects the remaining partners to operate their programs more quickly and transparently," Rouhani was quoted as saying.
Rouhani was speaking in the light of U.S. sanctions re-imposed by Washington after President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May.
Macron reiterated France's commitment to maintaining the accord, a remark aimed at soothing Tehran.
But he repeated his earlier calls for broader discussions with all relevant parties that would include Iran's nuclear programme after 2025, its ballistics programme and its influence in the wider Middle East region. "We will do everything so that the talks help avoid a serious crisis in the months ahead," Macron said in an annual speech to French ambassadors.
Separately, the head of the navy of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, General Alireza Tangsiri, said on Monday that Iran had full control of the Gulf and the U.S. Navy did not belong there, according to the Tasnim news agency.

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