Blasts Europe

Trump’s German envoy blasts Europe over Iran

Berlin meanwhile indicated that Tehran may have taken ‘first step to the end’ of Iran nuclear deal.

By JUDITH MISCHKE AND ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell took aim at European governments for failing to condemn Tehran over attacks it orchestrated over the past few months, as he justified America's assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

"When the West stands together and the West says very clearly that terrorism is wrong and terrorism should not be used, then that message is heard by the Iranians and they see a collective force of the West," Grenell told Monday's Der Podcast. "We have seen the Iranians escalate over the last several months. And there has been no, or I should say little response from the European governments."

Referring to comments made by America's European allies calling for a de-escalation in the wake of the killing of the leader of Iran’s elite paramilitary forces, Grenell said: "If you want to de-escalate, and you think that it’s really important to de-escalate, I would say then you must condemn all the way up the ladder of escalation, and that was not done."

In a joint statement released late Sunday, the leaders of Germany, France and the U.K. said there was an "urgent" need for de-escalation of the situation in the Middle East, and called on Iran to comply with the nuclear deal.

Grenell also said Americans "don't want war" with Iran.

His comments came as Germany indicated that Tehran’s announcement on Sunday that it would no longer observe any restriction on the number of centrifuges it can operate, taking another step away from commitments made under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), could spell the end of the 2015 nuclear deal. The agreement, struck by Tehran, the EU, the U.K., Germany, France, China, Russia and the U.S., before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018, was designed to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran's move, which was "not consistent" with its JCPOA commitments, "could be the first step to the end of this agreement,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday. But he added that abandoning the deal "would be a big loss so we will weigh this up very, very responsibly now," and stressed that Berlin would "definitely talk to Iran again."

NATO will hold a special meeting of the North Atlantic Council Monday afternoon to address the situation in the Middle East.