In a sharp diplomatic shift, the European Union has decided to stop its so-called “critical dialogue” with Iran and to take a series of measures against the Islamic Republic.
The E.U. move this week came as the American Jewish Committee called on Iran’s trading partners in Europe and Asia to cease all trade with the nation it said “not only supports terrorism throughout the world but orders terror as an instrument of national policy.”
In a full-page ad in Wednesday’s The New York Times, the AJCommittee applauded the United States’ “tough stand” against Iran, but added that “too many other nations, no less aware of the Iranian record, have sought to profit from business as usual with terrorism’s sponsors.”
The E.U. decision, announced here after a meeting of the group’s 15 foreign ministers, includes a call to suspend high-level meetings between E.U. and Iranian officials.
The decision came in the wake of an April 10 German court ruling that Iran’s leaders were behind the 1992 murders of four Iranian dissidents in Berlin.
Within days of the ruling, more than 100,000 demonstrators marched on the German Embassy in Tehran.
But the demonstration was less a protest against Germany than against the Islamic Republic’s more traditional foes, with the protesters chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
In the wake of the court ruling, all E.U. countries except Greece recalled their ambassadors from Tehran. Australia, Canada and New Zealand also recalled their envoys.
“There is no basis for the continuation of the critical dialogue between the European Union and Iran,” the E.U. foreign ministers said in a statement issued after this week’s meeting.
As part of its new stance, the European Union will continue its arms embargo on Iran, will not grant visas to Iranians with intelligence or security positions and will seek to remove all Iranian intelligence personnel from E.U. countries.
The E.U. policy of critical dialogue was aimed at preserving its trade ties with Tehran while also attempting to get Iran to improve its human rights record and to work in greater cooperation with the West.
The European Union is Iran’s most important trading partner.
The United States has been sharply critical of the E.U. policy, repeatedly urging the Europeans to cut their links with Tehran and to join the economic sanctions Washington imposed on Iran for its sponsorship of international terrorism.
At their meeting this week, the E.U. foreign ministers said they wanted to have a constructive relationship with Iran, but this was only possible “if the Iranian authorities respect the norms of international law and refrain from acts of terrorism.”
Despite the new measures against Tehran, the ministers also agreed that individual E.U. member states could return their ambassadors to Tehran if they wanted to resume diplomatic contacts with Iran.
According to diplomats here, this was seen as a sign that the E.U. countries are reluctant to damage their economic ties with Iran.
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