Tabnak – Even from the first days of his electoral campaign last year, US President Donald Trump had made clear his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal. Now, as suggestions have been raised about the possible US exit from the deal, Iranian officials warn the Americans about consequences.
The US president on Thursday claimed that Iran was not "living up to the spirit” of the nuclear deal (JCPOA) and said he thought it was a "horrible agreement." "I don't think Iran is in compliance. I don't think they're living up to the spirit of the agreement,” Trump said in New Jersey.
Trump has been a virulent critic of the JCPOA signed under his predecessor Barack Obama, calling it "the worst deal ever." During his electoral campaign, he had promised to "tear down” the deal once becomes the president.
Reacting to these remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at Trump for seeking to scrap the nuclear deal at expense of the Islamic Republic.
The US president has always wanted to "kill” the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Zarif said on his official Twitter account on Friday. "POTUS always wanted to kill JCPOA. To avoid isolation, he's trying to blame it on Iran. Bad faith on top of US violating the letter & spirit.”
At the same time, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said today that if any party to the deal, violates its terms, they will have to pay a "serious cost.”
Araqchi denounced the new US sanctions against Iran over its missile program as "unacceptable” and argued that Tehran’s missile program, which relies on Iranian people’s capabilities, is solely defensive and deterrent.
Araqchi’s comments come as the Iranian parliament (Majlis) is set to vote on a motion which incorporates a host of retaliatory measures in the face of US "acts of terror” and "adventurism” in the region.
The bill, which was passed by the Majlis’ Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy on Wednesday, will be put on the parliament’s agenda next Sunday, said Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the committee’s spokesman, in a Thursday interview with the IRIB.
It "takes into consideration the aspects of US hostile measures in the region and their behavior in different areas, [including] acts of terrorism and human rights violations, will be put under close monitoring,” he added.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany reached the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and began implementing it in January 2016.
The UN Security Council later unanimously endorsed a resolution that effectively turned the JCPOA into international law.
