TEHRAN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A video clip released on Monday showed that Iran's supreme leader advised the government not to pin its hopes on Europe after the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal, Press TV reported.
The video showed a private meeting between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's cabinet last July.
Khamenei urged the administration not to trust the Europeans with their pledge of incentives to save the Iranian nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"One day, we tied all of the country's economic issues to the JCPOA but it could not resolve our country's economic issues or help us in any significant way," Khamenei told the cabinet members.
He advised the government to avoid linking people's livelihood to the Europeans' pledges to save Iran's interests under the nuclear deal.
"We have things to do in our country and we have potentials, which need to be materialized," he said. "Follow those potentials, do not tie economic enhancement to something that is not in our control."
On Jan. 31, the European Union announced the setting up of the new institution, Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges, to secure trade with Iran and skirt U.S. anti-Iran sanctions after Washington pulled out of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal last May.
Accordingly, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed the establishment of a payment channel by the European states to help continue trade with Iran.
"The purpose of this mechanism is to bring the whole payments between Iran and Europe and all of our exports and imports into this financial mechanism," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
