Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is in New York meeting with European leaders and attempting to salvage the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal the United States exited in 2018. European leaders have been encouraging Rouhani to meet with Donald Trump while both are in New York in order to de-escalate tensions between the two countries. Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the final decision-maker on state matters in Tehran, said it is time to move on.

During a speech Sept. 26 to members of the Assembly of Experts, Khamenei said Europe’s enmity with Iran does not differ in principle from America’s enmity toward Iran. “On the surface, the Europeans enter as mediators and make long speeches, but they are all empty,” Khamenei said.

Regarding Europe’s adherence to US sanctions after they were reapplied and the subsequent US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Khamenei said, “Despite their own commitments, the Europeans abided by America’s sanctions and took no actions, and it is unlikely that from this point on they will take any actions for the Islamic Republic. Therefore, hope has to be given up on the Europeans.” While Europe has introduced INSTEX (the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) to circumvent US sanctions and facilitate trade between Iran and Europe, the mechanism cannot yet handle Iran’s key demand of securing oil sale transactions.

Khamenei said “the door is not closed on cooperation and talks” with other countries — with the exception of the United States and Israel — and “there is nothing wrong with coming and going and making contracts, but certainly there should be no hope or trust in [Europe].” He said even those who negotiated with the Europeans, meaning members of the negotiation team in the Rouhani administration, have acknowledged “they have not acted upon a single one of their commitments, and this is the strongest reason why they should not be trusted.”