Iran’s Khamenei: ‘No Hope’ European Countries Will Help against Sanctions

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, says there is no use believing that Britain, France and Germany will end up helping the Islamic Republic circumvent crushing sanctions imposed by the United States. “Despite their promises, the Europeans have adhered to America’s sanctions and have not taken any action, and are unlikely to do anything for the Islamic Republic in the future. So one should give up all hope on Europeans,” Khamenei’s official website quoted him as saying on Thursday. The US imposed the sanctions after withdrawing from a 2015 multilateral agreement intended to bar Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Britain, France and Germany, which have stuck with the deal, are said to be working on a bartering mechanism that would allow Iran to import crucial goods such as food and medicine. These efforts, however, seem to be leading nowhere, and with a recent spike in tensions in the Gulf that have been blamed squarely on the Iranians, London, Paris and Berlin have taken a much more critical stance toward Tehran.