Iran-European Relations Revised

Meysam Tavab, Rooz Online:

Rooz correspondent from Tehran reports that since Iran's nuclear file was referred to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government agencies to limit the country's economic relations with Europe.

The Iranian government has decided to halt its economic relations with those countries that played a key role in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors' decision to refer its nuclear file to the UNSC in March.

It seems that Britain, Germany and France, the three EU negotiating counties and Iran's most important economic partners will be impacted the most by this policy. The controversial cartoons published in Denmark too have sparked off violent reactions in recent days, and the support for the freedom of press of other EU countries such as France has added to the intense pressure on Iranian officials to decrease its level of economic cooperation with them.

Earlier on, there had been talks inside the Iranian government to end or at least reduce the country’s economic relations with those states that had voted against the Islamic Republic at the IAEA board of governors meeting, but nothing was done because of the dependence that exists on those countries. But the decision to "transform the economic balance" and shift the focus from economic partners in the West to those in the East, especially China and Russia, has complicated things in Tehran as these two countries too voted in favor of reporting Iran to the UNSC at the IAEA’s last meeting.READ MORE