By Tim Cocks
JOHANNSESBURG, March 16 (Reuters) - South Africa has no reason to cut ties with Iran, its director general of foreign affairs said, after the new U.S. ambassador was quoted as saying the country's association with the Islamic Republic was an impediment to good relations with Washington.
In an interview with Reuters over the weekend, Zane Dangor, director-general of the department of international relations, also rejected some other Trump administration demands, such as dropping South Africa's genocide case against Israel, scrapping Black empowerment laws or accepting a refugee programme for whites.
Dangor was speaking against the backdrop of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, a conflict placing increased strains on governments navigating relationships with Tehran, and a sharp deterioration in Pretoria's ties with the U.S. during President Donald Trump's second term.
In August Trump imposed a 30% tariff on imports from South Africa, a move that could cause tens of thousands of job losses at a time when a third of South Africans are out of work.
"We have not any reason to cut ties with Iran," Dangor said, but he added: "we are not absolutely uncritical of Iran," noting that President Cyril Ramaphosa's government had admonished the republic for its crackdown on protesters in January, and for attacking neighbours in the latest war with the United States.
"(But) we cannot be pulled into the sort of sphere of influence politics that great powers want to pull us into, and that in this instance includes the U.S.," he said.
In his first media interview, new U.S. Ambassador Leo Bozell was quoted by News24 as saying "an association with Iran is an impediment to good relations with the United States."
"You (the United States) have a particular relationship with Iran ... that many in the developing world (do not) have," Dangor said.
RELATIONSHIP WITH US HITS ROCK BOTTOM
South Africa's relationship with the U.S. has been at a low since Trump accused its Black majority government of persecuting its white minority, repeating false claims about land seizures from white farmers circulating on far-right chat rooms.
Dangor said Pretoria was keen to improve ties with Washington, but "let's engage about areas we agree on".
Regarding the International Court of Justice case against Israel for its Gaza war, Dangor said: "it's not even on the table ... In my last engagement with the State Department people, we indicated that if you disagree with us on this, it's a court process."
Trump administration officials have suggested laws aiming to redress apartheid's legacy, like minimum requirements for Black business ownership and Black employees, must be modified to ease South Africa's 30% tariff.
"We're not going to let the domestic issues that they've put on the table become part of that equation," Dangor said.
The U.S. also aims to process 4,500 refugee applications per month from white South Africans Trump claims are persecuted.
"It's a preferential immigration programme," Dangor said. "But they should do it through the normal channels. They cannot use the moniker of 'refugee'," he said, adding that this was why a Kenya-based organisation that processes refugees was denied entry.
(Reporting by Tim Cocks, Editing by William Maclean)
