Iran’s Rouhani says US has failed to undermine nuclear deal

TEHRAN

Iran’s president said on Jan. 14 the United States had failed to undermine a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, and hailed the accord as a “long-lasting victory” for Iran, state television reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 12 delivered an ultimatum to European signatories of the deal to fix the “terrible flaws” of the agreement with Iran, or the United States would pull out.

“The American administration has failed to undermine the nuclear deal ... Trump, despite his repeated efforts, has failed to undermine the accord ... The deal is a long-lasting victory for Iran,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech, broadcast live on state TV.

On Jan. 12, Trump agreed to waive sanctions against Iran for the last time to give the United States and European allies a final chance to amend the pact.

Iran says the nuclear deal is not renegotiable and it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out.

Iran on Jan. 13 rejected any modification of its nuclear deal.

Iran “will not accept any amendments in this agreement, be it now or in the future, and it will not allow any other issues to be linked to the JCPOA,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, using the 2015 deal’s technical name.

It has the backing of all the partners to the agreement apart from the United States, with Russia warning Washington on Jan. 13 that withdrawing would be “a big miscalculation.”

“We are gradually coming to the conclusion that an internal decision by the US to leave the JCPOA has already been made or is close to being made,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency.

“This could be one of Washington’s big foreign policy mistakes,” he added.

On Jan. 13, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the “necessary respect by all parties” of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, in a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, Israel’s leader, a fierce critic of the deal, told Macron that changing the nuclear deal would increase the chances of it remaining in place.

“Trump’s remarks should be taken seriously, and whoever wants to keep the nuclear deal would be wise to fix it”, a statement from Netanyahu’s office read.

Iran argues that continued U.S. sanctions on non-nuclear areas such as human rights and missile testing have effectively barred it from gaining many of the financial benefits expected from the deal.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said Trump’s aggressive stance on the deal and Iran generally have also violated the commitment to “refrain from any policy specifically intended to directly and adversely affect the normalisation of trade and economic relations with Iran” in the accord.