U.S. Envoy Questions EU Stance on Iran as Gulf Tensions Escalate
U.S. Envoy Questions EU Stance on Iran as Gulf Tensions Escalate
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. ambassador to the European Union questioned the bloc’s stance toward Iran, underscoring the transatlantic tensions over relations with Tehran.
Gordon Sondland said the EU’s refusal so far to pin blame on the country for an attack last week on two oil tankers outside the entrance to the Persian Gulf only served to strengthen the Iranian administration.
“How many ships need be blown up before the world acknowledges that Iran was responsible?” Sondland asked at a policy event in Brussels.
“What is not productive is this rhetoric going back and forth, particularly in some of the news media, where, despite the existence of clear video showing ships being mined by Iranian mines, there are still questions about who caused that -- all that does is give Iran a great deal of leeway.”
He spoke shortly after separate reports on Thursday that Iran shot down an American spy drone near the entrance to the Persian Gulf.
A transatlantic rift has erupted over Iran since the U.S. last year abandoned a landmark 2015 international agreement, known as the JCPOA, that is meant to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons, and which the EU supports along with Russia and China.
Europe’s stance is now under strain after Iran said it would breach caps on stockpiles of low-grade uranium.
“The JCPOA financially empowered the regime to sow mischief in the region and beyond, including right here in Europe,” Sondland said. “The U.S. will never accept the premise that doing something differently from the EU is inherently wrong.”
--With assistance from Jonathan Stearns, Arsalan Shahla, Zainab Fattah and Margaret Talev.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ian Wishart in Brussels at iwishart@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-Thomas
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