In a post on hi X account, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi criticized Europe’s approach to international agreements, denouncing the EU and its leading powers for hypocrisy and strategic shortsightedness.
Reacting to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s insistence on the sanctity of political “deals,” Araqchi argued that Europe is now facing the consequences of having backed the US withdrawal from Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), warning that selective respect for agreements risks accelerating the breakdown of the global order.
“When the US violates an agreement signed with the EU barely six months ago, von der Leyen suddenly springs to action and insists that ‘in politics as in business—a deal is a deal’, and that when counterparts ‘shake hands, it must mean something’,” Araqchi said.
“Sadly for Europe, its current conundrum is the very definition of ‘blowback’. The E3/EU faithfully obeyed and even abetted President Trump when he unilaterally abrogated the Iran Nuclear Deal during his first term. In doing so, they should have thought about today,” he added.
“There is one clear lesson to be drawn from all this: Either ‘all deals are deals’, or ‘no handshake means anything’. It is that stark, and the consequence of the latter is nothing short of the breakdown of the international order,” the Iranian foreign minister added.
“Case in point: Mr. Trump's threat to take over Greenland by any means—unlawful as it is under any conception of international law or even a ‘rules-based order’—could not happen to a more deserving continent,” Araqchi stated.