Zarif warns US it cannot ‘expect to stay safe’

Iran’s foreign minister warned the U.S. Monday that it “cannot expect to stay safe” after launching what he described as an economic war against Tehran, taking a hard-line stance amid a visit by Germany’s top diplomat seeking to defuse tensions.

A stern-faced Mohammad Javad Zarif offered a series of threats over the ongoing tensions gripping the Gulf. “Mr. [Donald] Trump himself has announced that the U.S. has launched an economic war against Iran,” Zarif said.

“The only solution for reducing tensions in this region is stopping that economic war.”

Zarif also warned: “Whoever starts a war with us will not be the one who finishes it.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas insisted his country and other European nations wanted to find a way to salvage the nuclear deal, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But he acknowledged there were limits.

“We won’t be able to do miracles, but we are trying as best as we can to do prevent its failure,” Maas said.

Europe has yet to be able to offer Iran a way to get around the newly imposed U.S. sanctions. Meanwhile, a July 7 deadline - imposed by Iran - looms for Europe to find a way to save the unraveling deal.

Otherwise, Iran has warned it will resume enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels.

Though Zarif made a point to shake Maas’ hands before the cameras, his comments marked a sharp departure for the U.S.-educated diplomat who helped secure the nuclear deal, alongside the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani. They came after Maas spoke about Israel, an archenemy of Iran’s government.

“Israel’s right to exist is part of Germany’s founding principle and is completely nonnegotiable,” he said. “It is a result of our history and it’s irrevocable and doesn’t just change because I am currently in Tehran.”

Zarif then grew visibly angry, offering a list of Middle East problems ranging from Al-Qaeda to the bombing of Yemeni civilians he blamed on the U.S. and its allies, namely Saudi Arabia.

“If one seeks to talk about instability in this region, those are the other parties who should be held responsible,” Zarif said.

Zarif’s sharp tone likely comes from Iran’s growing frustration with Europe, as well as the ever-tightening U.S. sanctions targeting the country. Iran’s national currency, the rial, is currently trading at nearly 130,000 to $1. It had been 32,000 to the dollar at the time of the 2015 deal. That has wiped away people’s earnings, as well as driven up prices on nearly every good in the country.

European nations had pledged to create a mechanism called INSTEX, which would allow Iran to continue to trade for humanitarian goods despite American sanctions. However, that program has yet to really take off, something Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted before Zarif and Maas spoke to reporters.

“We haven’t put much hope in INSTEX,” spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said, according to Iranian state television.

“If INSTEX was going to help us, it would have done so already.”

Maas later met Rouhani as well. “We expect Europe to stand up to the United States’ economic terrorism against the Iranian nation, living up to its commitments under the deal,” Rouhani told him, according to a statement.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency meanwhile reported that Ali Asghar Zarean, deputy head of Iran’s nuclear department, said Tehran had increased the number of its centrifuges to 1,044 at the Fordo underground facility. That’s the maximum allowed under the deal.

The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog said Monday that Iran had already increased its uranium enrichment activities. Iran previously announced it would quadruple its production of low-enrichment uranium.

“I am worried about increasing tensions over the Iranian nuclear issue,” Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

“As I have constantly emphasized, the nuclear-related commitments entered into by Iran under the [deal] represent a significant gain for nuclear verification - I therefore hope that ways can be found to reduce current tensions through dialogue.”