A senior Iranian legislator slammed the European parliament for calling off a visit to Tehran under the intense pressure of the Zionist lobbies, saying that the cancelled visit displayed that the EU decisions are ruled by the Zionists.

"This behavior of the EU shows how much powerless they are when it comes to the Zionist regime," Vice-Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mansour Haqiqatpour told FNA on Monday.

His remarks came after the European lawmakers cancelled a planned visit to Iran which was announced after Tehran didn't accept EU's preconditions for such a trip.

Earlier reports said that the European MPs had changed the agenda of their visit in the last moments and demanded a meeting with a number of Iranian prisoners as a precondition for taking the trip. In response, Tehran rejected the demand.

"The Iranian nation never accepts any precondition in diplomatic relations and we attend talks and negotiate with equal rights and equal footing," Haqiqatpour underscored.

The European parliamentarians were due to have a hectic agenda during the visit to Tehran, including several meetings with senior Iranian political and parliamentary officials.

The European delegation was initially due to discuss the western sanctions against Iran, and observers believe that the European Parliament was forced to change its agenda under the pressure of the Zionist lobbies.

The EU decision for paying a parliamentary visit to Tehran angered Israel which profoundly worried about the further expansion of ties between Iran and the European countries.

Tel Aviv strove hard to discourage the members of the EU parliament from visiting Tehran.

The Israeli media said that Israel worked hard to have the visit canceled.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday with European ambassadors to Israel, and praised the latest EU sanctions on Iran while noting that sanctions had not yet prompted Iran to halt its nuclear program.

Israel tried unsuccessfully earlier this summer to discourage nations from participating in a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran, and Netanyahu personally implored UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon not to attend, but was rebuffed.
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