Iran-EU relationship should be reciprocal:Iran`s FM spokesman

TEHRAN,Feb.21(MNA)-- Iranian Foreign Minister Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was asked to comment on the fact that Iran suspended oil exports to Britain and France on February 19 in response to the oil embargo that the European Union imposed on the Islamic Republic on January 23. “We regard ourselves as committed to supplying energy to various countries, including (European countries), but we expect that they feel committed to providing our sources of revenue, and the relationship should be reciprocal,” he added. Asked about separate meetings that Hassan Tajik, the director of the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Western Europe Department, held with the ambassadors of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, and France on February 15, in which the oil embargo was discussed, Mehmanparast said that the six ambassadors were invited to be notified of the fact that “we want relations and cooperation to continue, but if the relations are to continue… certain points should be taken into consideration, including security of the payment of oil, medium-term or relatively long-term contracts meaning 3-5 year contracts, and forfeit of the right to unilaterally terminate contracts (which) can guarantee oil cooperation so that both sides’ interests would be served.” Commenting on the news reports saying that Britain and France had halted oil imports from Iran before Iran suspended exports to them, Mehmanparast stated that Iran had no banking dealings with these countries, but they imposed sanctions on Iran’s banks. The EU formally agreed to a freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of Iran on January 23. Replying to a question about the remarks that Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi made on February 20, in which he said that relations between Iran and the European Union will revert to normal, Mehmanparast said, “Our priority in foreign policy is improving relations with all countries except for the countries that have a long (record of) hostility (toward Iran) and have not revised their approach and with which we are not keen to have relations, and the United States is an example.” “We welcome the expansion of relations with European Union countries under normal circumstances, but if Europe makes a wrong decision and displays a hostile attitude… the European people will take the brunt of such wrong measures. Such illogical decisions put European firms under pressure,” he added.