Speaking on the outlook of the current competition between China and the United States at the meeting on the Strategic Dimensions of Iran-Europe Relations, Dr Kamal Kharrazi said: ‘We think the Chinese will win the trade war with America and achieve their long-term plans of making China the world’s first power.’

The meeting was also attended by Dr Werner Fasslabend, the president of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES).

Dr Kharrazi emphasized that Trump’s policies have prompted Europe, China and others to consider having independent policies from the Americans.

Underlining the role of Israel in the Middle East and Syrian developments, he said: ‘The Syrian crisis was (the production of) an Israeli policy. Should the conspiracy have won, Israel could gain a better position, and should Assad be overthrown, ISIS and Al-Nusra had established their rule. The Israelis wanted to disintegrate Syria and Iraq into smaller countries. It was already clear that Israel was behind the conspiracy.’

Dr Kharrazi pointed to the failure of Israeli policies in Syria and stressed: ‘All in all, Syrian developments ended in favour of Iran, despite Israeli attempts to limit Iran’s influence in the region.’

The SCFR president also referred to Europe’s double standard in countering terrorism and said: ‘Europe claims it opposes terrorism and is fighting in this direction, and yet some European countries, including France, harbour terrorists. Paris claims to be fighting with the terrorism, but has sheltered a large terrorist organization and has provided it with the necessary means to take action against Iran. Such a behaviour is considered to be a double standard and unacceptable.’

Dr Kamal Kharrazi (R) Dr Werner Fasslabend (L) Speaking at the meeting on the Strategic Dimensions of Iran-Europe Relations

Also speaking at the meeting was AIES president, Dr Werner Fasslabend, who said that the European Union pursued two main goals: 1) the development of Europe’s security and defence in an independent manner; 2) the British exit from the European Union.

Dr Fasslabend noted that the United States is currently cooperating with the Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman and provides him with all kinds of assistance. Nothing is predictable in this situation, but we should avoid further conflict in the region because stability in the Middle East will not be possible without Iran.

On the US withdrawal from JCPOA, he said: ‘It is incomprehensible to me that a country would want to withdraw from a pact that has been agreed upon between the five permanent members of the Security Council as well as Germany and Iran. When the key world powers sign a pact, it’s not just an agreement on a piece of paper. In the meantime, the IAEA can continue to carry out its inspections.’

Referring to the European financial mechanism for Iran, Dr Fasslabend said: ‘Europeans are trying to introduce a mechanism to allow corporations to transact with Iran.’