"According to the JCPOA, Iran and G5+1 agreed that the Iran would limit its nuclear activities to prove its good-faith and that its nuclear activities are civilian and the other party committed to remove all the sanctions and to pave the way for financial and trade cooperation," said Ramin Mehamparast, referring to the European trio's statement to fully implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Mehmanparast said that the unilateral withdrawal of the United States' from the international deal caused a lot of problems and that the US announced that it would restore all the sanctions back on Iran and would sanction any state or company that tries to cooperate with Iran.
"The JCPOA was the only chance for the Europeans to prove their power in solving world crises and to defend their reputation as an influential bloc of states."
He said that, as being seen, Europeans played an important role in formation of the JCPOA and introduced it as a product of European foreign policy.
Europe was now in a difficult situation whether or not to keep the deal and their independent identity or follow the US lead to quit the deal, he said.
"Europe opted for saving the deal, but due to some disagreements and the international situation, they faced a big challenge."
"Now, Iran, not enjoying the benefits of the JCPOA, doesn’t feel bound to fulfill all its commitments anymore."
He added even if the INSTEX works at the highest level and does financial interactions, it won't provide Iran with all its interests, but because it is a move against the US and Europe is trying to circumvent the sanctions, it is "politically important".
Mehmanparast added that the amount entering the mechanism is "worthless"; if the channel is a trade facilitator between Iran and Europe, Iran's petro money should enter it to be used for Iranian purchases.
"INSTEX should deal with billions of dollars or euros, not just a few million dollars; handling such a large amount of cash is not attractive for them. However, Europe, as a major party to the JCPOA, should not forget that it doesn’t have much time to prove its honesty and will and defend its achievement."
There is huge capacity for trade and financial cooperation between Iran and Europe, which is other than energy; some parties can start their ties with Tehran bilaterally, said the former ambassador of Iran to Poland and Kazakhstan.
They EU can also devise longstanding agreement with Iran, he added.
"The EU must show how serious they are in working with Iran and defending the JCPOA and how much they can resist to the US pressure and bullying."
Asked about possible referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council again, he said that Iran's honesty is clear to both the governments and the public opinion in the world and that the International Atomic Energy Agency has verified Iran's compliance to the JCPOA 15 times so far.
Mehmanparast said, "Iran has got nothing to lose." "If the other party isn’t able to or doesn’t want to be loyal to its commitments, Iran will continue to move toward its goals with full strength."
"If they want to pressure Iran, though Iran will suffer a bit, the big loss will be on theirs; they need Iran for many issues, like providing the region with security. They will deprive themselves of a powerful partner if they do so," the former ambassador said.
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