Iranian President Hassan Rouhani defended the
nuclear deal with Western powers Saturday and said that U.S. President
Donald Trump could not undermine it.
Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to limit its disputed nuclear program in return for the easing of economic sanctions.
However,
Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the deal, a
senior administration official has said, in a step that potentially
could cause the accord to unravel.
"In
the nuclear negotiations and agreement we reached issues and benefits
that are not reversible. No one can turn that back, not Mr. Trump or
anyone else,” Rouhani said at a ceremony at Tehran University marking
the start of the university academic year, according to state media.
"Even if 10 other Trumps are created in the world, these are not reversible.”
Trump,
who has called the pact an "embarrassment” and "the worst deal ever
negotiated”, has been weighing whether the deal serves U.S. security
interests as he faces the Oct. 15 deadline for certifying that Iran is
complying with its terms.
The prospect of
Washington reneging on the deal has worried some of the U.S. allies that
helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples with another
nuclear crisis, North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile development.
If Trump does not certify that Iran is in
compliance, the U.S. Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to
reimpose sanctions waived under the deal. U.N. inspectors have verified
Iranian compliance with the terms.
Rouhani said
Saturday that if the United States violated the deal then it would hurt
its own reputation in the international community.
"If
America carries out any violations today, the whole world will condemn
America. They will not condemn Iran,” Rouhani said, according to state
media. "Then they will say why did you trust America and sign an
agreement with them?”
