An IranAir Airbus A320-200, Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport, Serbia, March 13, 2018.
Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s foreign minister.
Tehran is open to diplomacy to solve disputes but not “threats and pressure”, Iran’s foreign minister said as resorted by state media on Saturday, after the U.S. and three European powers imposed sanctions against the country’s aviation sector.
Abbas Araqchi’s comments came a day after The European Union’s chief diplomat said the bloc was considering new sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector, in reaction to reports Tehran supplied Russia with ballistic missiles in its war against Ukraine.
Said Araqchi said, as quoted by the official news agency IRNA: “Iran continues on its own path with strength, although we have always been open to talks to resolve disputes … but dialogue should be based on mutual respect, not on threats and pressure”.
Araqchi said on Wednesday that Tehran had not delivered any ballistic missiles to Russia and sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and three European powers would not solve any problems between them.
The United States, Germany, Britain and France on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on Iran, including measures against its national airline, Iran Air.
