Iranian officials abruptly stood up, walked out and slammed the door in an extraordinary break with protocol during a recent meeting with European envoys in Tehran, Reuters reported on January 18.

The French, British, German, Danish, Dutch and Belgian diplomats in the Iranian foreign ministry room 12 days ago had incensed the officials with a message that Europe could no longer tolerate ballistic missile tests in Iran and assassination plots on European soil, four EU diplomats reportedly said, with one remarking: “There was a lot of drama, they didn’t like it, but we felt we had to convey our serious concerns.” “It shows the relationship is becoming more tense,” a second was cited as saying.

Europe has been resisting US President Donald Trump’s policy of isolating Iran with tough sanctions but there is deep frustration in Tehran as to how few viable measures of economic assistance this support has translated into. The Europeans meanwhile are frustrated that despite their anti-Trump and pro-Iran stance, there were last year alleged assassination plots by Iran on French and Danish soil. Tehran denies there were such plots and says the ballistic missile tests are purely defensive.

As diplomatic relations between Tehran and European Union member states deteriorate, the bloc remains set to officially launch a mechanism, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), for sanctions-shielded trading with Iran later this month. But it is not expected to be operational for several months. Reuters reported that it will be registered in France and run by a German, with the UK likely to be a shareholder. The SPV should have been launched in early November last year but an EU country prepared to domicile it, and risk reprisals from the US for doing so, could not be found. This latest approach would spread the risk.

Meanwhile, the debate between pragmatic centrists in Iran, led by President Hassan Rouhani, and hardliners over whether it is better to stay in the Iran nuclear deal with remaining signatories France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China or exit the accord and battle against Washington’s economic attack on their country without the multilateral agreement (exited unilaterally by the US in May last year) may intensify. If Europe fails to deliver any substantial trade and investment measures for the Iranians, and keeps up its aggressive response to the missile tests and assassination allegations—including through the use of sanctions, for instance against elements of Iran’s intelligence services—the hardliners will feel justified in redoubling their argument that Iran should give up on the nuclear deal.