He thus focused his administration’s diplomatic efforts on accessing the coronavirus-related medical capabilities of Europe and, more importantly, convincing European capitals to pressure the United States to lift sanctions and allow Tehran to receive $5 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund, among other measures. Given the country’s relatively weak health infrastructure and overdue national response to the sweeping spread of the coronavirus in Iran, Zarif worried his administration’s poor management of the pandemic could turn into a humanitarian catastrophe, to the detriment of the government’s already diminishing legitimacy with the Iranian people. The third pillar started after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
arms embargo on Iran at the apex of its hostility with the United States. In addition to keeping the nuclear deal alive (if only barely), the most prominent outcome of the European leverage against Washington was the lifting of the U.N. The second pillar was a very light version of “divide and rule.” Division between Europe and the Trump administration in the United States over the 2015 nuclear agreement gave Iran an opportunity to take advantage of European political and diplomatic leverage, particularly in the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations, against the American moves to kill the deal. As former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif noted shortly before leaving office, the deterrence strategy would have been successful had the foreign direct investment worth tens of billion dollars materialized and the country’s link to the global production process and value chains been developed as a result of the nuclear deal. The first was the pursuit of economic interdependence with Europe aimed at deterring future financial restrictions against Iran and offsetting the costs of having to roll back its nuclear program. Under former President Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s Europe policy consisted of three pillars. Unfortunately, it’s one that has been tried before, unsuccessfully. But what they have said suggests they may be pursuing a new strategy. When it comes to policy toward Europe, the new Iranian leadership has talked less.
Since taking office this August, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have identified building ties with both Iran’s neighbors and countries in Asia as top foreign-policy priorities, along with continuing to strengthen the so-called Axis of Resistance in the Middle East.
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