File Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press briefing in Washington D.C., the United States, Aug. 16, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo here on Tuesday blasted EU's recent decision to set up a legal entity to circumvent the U.S. sanctions against Iran.
While speaking at the United Against Nuclear Iran Summit, Pompeo said that he "was disturbed and, indeed, deeply disappointed to hear the remaining parties in the deal announce they're setting up a special payment system to bypass U.S. sanctions."
"This is one of the most counterproductive measures imaginable," he said, stressing that it is unacceptable.
The EU foreign and security policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday that the EU will set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran in light of the U.S. withdrawal from the international agreement on Tehran's nuclear program and the re-imposition of sanctions.
The legal entity will allow European companies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance with EU law and could be open to other partners in the world, Mogherini told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York after she attended a meeting of foreign ministers from Iran and from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- the five remaining powers of the 2015 agreement after the withdrawal of Washington.
Mogherini said participants of Monday's ministerial meeting were supportive of such a measure.
For his part, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earlier on Tuesday blasted the U.S.-led sanctions against his country as "economic terrorism."
"World security is under threat by some states' recklessness and disregard of international values and institutions," Rouhani made the remarks at the ongoing General Debate of the 73rd UN General Assembly.
"Confronting multilateralism is not a sign of strength. Rather, it is a symptom of the weakness of the intellect. It betrays an inability in understanding a complex and interconnected world," he said.
The Iran nuclear deal was reached in Vienna in 2015 between Iran, the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - China, France, Russia, Britain, the United States - plus Germany).
In May, U.S. President Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the landmark Iranian nuclear deal. Since then, the Trump administration has slapped a number of sanctions on Iran while vowing to apply more.
