The president of the United States, Donald Trump, issued a private threat to European countries on the imposition of a 25% tariff on cars if they did not activate the dispute resolution mechanism of the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Official European sources cited by the American newspaper 'The Washington Post' have confirmed that the threat came days after Germany, France and the United Kingdom resorted to this mechanism, without clarifying whether the warning influenced the decision.
A European official has equated the threat with “extortion” and, according to the information in that newspaper, the European authorities complained privately to Washington about what happened.
Also, official sources in the three European countries have stressed that they had already taken the decision and almost backed down for fear of appearing to be following orders from the United States.
“We did not want to appear weak, so we agreed to keep the existence of the threat a secret,” said one of the European sources cited by The Washington Post.
The governments of Germany, France and the United Kingdom, signatories of the agreement, decided on Tuesday to bring Iran before the aforementioned mechanism for the alleged breach of the acquired commitments, which could ultimately result in the reimposition of sanctions.
In response, Iranian President Hasan Rohani has suggested on Wednesday that the European military present in the Middle East could be in danger after the decision, described by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Yavad Zarif, as a “strategic error.”
“If a wrong step is taken, there will be losses. The right thing is to return to the agreement,” Rohani said during a government meeting, according to Mehr. Thus, he has charged against Washington, which he has accused of fueling tensions and generating “intolerable” insecurity.
For its part, Zarif has described as a “strategic error” the movement of the British, German and French governments, recriminating these three powers that have not respected the commitments of the 2015 agreement, whose survival is reeling.
The head of Iranian diplomacy has also referred to the death of General Qasem Soleimani, who died in an American bombing, and has accused the United States authorities of encouraging instability throughout the Middle East with his “arrogance.”
To the escalation of tensions has been added the accidental demolition of a plane last week by Iran. Zarif has admitted that it was “an unforgivable mistake” and has promised that they will work so that it does not happen again, but has also pointed out that all the controversy derives from a crisis created by the United States, according to the official Iranian press.