EU willing to enhance Iran ties Spain envoy

Spain’s ambassador to Iran has dismissed the US-led unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic as “irrational”, saying the embargoes against Iran inflicted heavy losses on Madrid during the country’s financial crisis, AVA Diplomatic reports.Pedro Antonio Villena Perez made the comments in a meeting with Iranian President’s Advisor Mohammad Ali Najafi in Tehran on Monday.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors in a bid to prevent other countries from purchasing Iranian crude and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

The Spanish envoy also expressed hope that the ongoing negotiations between Tehran and P5+1 group will bear fruit and see Western-imposed trade sanctions on Iran being lifted.

Iran and the six countries formally kicked off the sixth round of nuclear talks in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on July 3 to discuss a permanent accord on Tehran’s nuclear energy program.

He said that many countries, including EU member states, want to see the end of sanctions against Iran, voicing the bloc’s unanimous stance on the necessity of removing anti-Iran bans.

Najafai, who is also secretary of Iran’s Economic Coordination Headquarters, said that Iran and Spain have many grounds to expand bilateral ties.

The Iranian official expressed hope that a successful outcome of the talks between Iran and the P5+1 would lead to further improvement of Tehran-Madrid ties.