Tabnak – As the deadline looms for the US president to declare his new position on the Iran nuclear deal, more international political figures are urging him not to exit from the deal. At the same time, Iran continues to underline that it’s ready for every scenario in this regard.
In the latest development regarding the issue, over 500 parliamentarians from the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran have called on US Congress to support the accord.
In a joint statement published in the Guardian, Der Spiegel, the New York Times and Le Monde, they urged a White House rethink before the 12 May deadline set by Trump to pull out of the deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), unless Europe can come up with a new policy that will meet his concerns, The Guardian reported.
“The US government threatens to abandon the JCPOA, although Iran fulfills its obligations under the agreement,” the letter said. They warn that “an exit by the US would have fatal consequences”.
“The short-term impact of this move would put an end to Iran’s nuclear program controls, which could provide a new source of devastating conflict in the Middle East and beyond,” it said.
“Leaving the agreement would diminish the value of all the promises and threats our countries make,” the parliamentarians said. They added that if the deal broke down it would be nigh on impossible to assemble another grand coalition built around sanctions against Iran.
France, Germany and the UK negotiated the landmark deal in 2015 that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear program, and are using all their leverage to try to persuade Trump that the deal is salvageable.
Meanwhile, Iran says that that it is well prepared to deal with any possible scenario related to the future of the country's nuclear agreement with world powers.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi made the announcement on Wednesday, stressing that if the US tries to leave the agreement, it will be faced with a firm and appropriate response by Tehran.
"We will powerfully defend the Islamic Republic of Iran's interests in the face of measures by the US president. We are ready to counter and defend against any scenario," he added.
Araqchi further noted that the world will see how fast Tehran can reactivate its capacities and even bolster them to a much higher level than before the nuclear agreement was concluded.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said Tehran's reaction will be "unpleasant" for the US if it decides to ditch the JCPOA.
"If the US decides to exit from the JCPOA the reaction it will receive from Iran and the international community will be unpleasant," said Zarif while addressing reporters in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, before returning to Tehran on Tuesday.
Trump has been a vociferous critic of the Iran nuclear deal. He has called the JCPOA the “worst deal ever” and even threatened to tear it up.
