9th April, 2018
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump would regret it if he withdraws from a nuclear deal that Tehran and six world powers signed in 2015, as Iran’s response would be stronger than imagined.
“Iran will not violate the nuclear deal, but if the United States withdraws from the deal, they will surely regret it.
“Our response will be stronger than what they imagine and they would see that within a week,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
Rouhani was speaking as Tehran marked National Nuclear Technology Day.
NAN reports that in January, Trump gave the Iran nuclear deal a final reprieve but warned European allies and Congress they had to work with him to fix “the disastrous flaws” in the pact or face a U.S. exit.
Trump said he would waive sanctions against Iran that were lifted as part of the international deal for the last time unless his conditions were met.
The ultimatum puts pressure on Europeans – key backers and parties to the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program – to satisfy Trump, who wants the pact strengthened with a separate agreement within 120 days.
“In spite of my strong inclination, I have not yet withdrawn the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said in a statement.
“Instead, I have outlined two possible paths forward: either fix the deal’s disastrous flaws, or the U. S. will withdraw.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif responded on Twitter that the deal was not renegotiable and that Trump’s stance “amounts to desperate attempts to undermine a solid multilateral agreement.”
Trump, who has sharply criticized the deal reached during Democrat Barack Obama’s presidency, had privately chafed at having to once again waive sanctions on a country he sees as a rising threat in the Middle east.
“This is a last chance,” Trump said, pushing for a separate agreement.
“In the absence of such an agreement, the U.S. will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. And if at any time I judge that such an agreement is not within reach, I will withdraw from the deal immediately.”
The EU said in a statement it had taken note of Trump’s decision and would assess its implications.
Underscoring the difficulty now facing Europeans, a European diplomat, speaking under condition of anonymity, said: “It’s going to be complicated to save the deal after this.”
While Trump approved the sanctions waiver, the Treasury Department announced new, targeted sanctions against 14 entities and people, including the head of Iran’s judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, a close ally of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Trump now will work with European partners on a follow-on agreement that enshrines certain triggers that the Iranian regime cannot exceed related to ballistic missiles, said senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the decision.
One senior administration official said Trump would be open to remaining in a modified deal if it were made permanent.
“I hereby call on key European countries to join with the United States in fixing significant flaws in the deal, countering Iranian aggression, and supporting the Iranian people,” Trump said in the statement.
Republican Senator Bob Corker said “significant progress” had been made on bipartisan congressional legislation to “address the flaws in the agreement without violating U.S. commitments.”
Trump laid out several conditions to keep the U. S. in the deal. Iran must allow “immediate inspections at all sites requested by international inspectors,” he said, and “sunset” provisions imposing limits on Iran’s nuclear program must not expire.
Trump said U.S. law must tie long-range missile and nuclear weapons programs together, making any missile testing by Iran subject to “severe sanctions.”
The president wants Congress to modify a law that reviews U.S. participation in the nuclear deal to include “trigger points” that, if violated, would lead to the United States reimposing its sanctions, the official said.
This would not entail negotiations with Iran, the official said, but rather would be the result of talks between the United States and its European allies. Work already has begun on this front, the official said.
Analyst Richard Nephew said whether Trump’s conditions could be met depended on whether he wants a face-saving way to live with the nuclear deal with the political cover of tough-sounding U.S. legislation, or whether he really wants the deal rewritten.
Nephew, a former White House and State Department Iran sanctions expert, said legislation could be drafted that might appear to assuage Trump’s concerns, but that getting Iran to agree to allow unfettered international inspections or to no time limits on the nuclear deal’s restrictions was impossible.
Trump has argued behind the scenes that the nuclear deal makes the United States look weak, a senior U.S. official said.
A decision to withhold a waiver would have effectively ended the deal between Iran, the U. .S., China, France, Russia, Britain, Germany and the European Union.
The other parties to the agreement would have been unlikely to join the United States in reimposing sanctions.