Iran\u2019s foreign minister said on Thursday US demands to change its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers were unacceptable as a deadline set by President Donald Trump for Europeans to \u201cfix\u201d the deal loomed.<\/p>\n
Trump has warned that unless European allies rectify the \u201cterrible flaws\u201d in the international accord by May 12, he will refuse to extend US sanctions relief for the oil-producing Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented,\u201d Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a video message posted on YouTube.<\/p>\n
Britain, France and Germany remain committed to the accord as is, but now, in efforts to keep Washington in it, want to open talks on Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 \u2013 when key provisions of the deal expire \u2013 and its role in Middle East crises such as Syria and Yemen.<\/p>\n
A senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warned Europeans on Thursday over \u201crevising\u201d the nuclear deal, under which Iran strictly limited its enrichment of uranium to help allay fears this could be put to producing atomic bomb material, and won major sanctions relief in return.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if US allies, especially the Europeans, try to revise the deal\u2026, one of our options will be withdrawing from it,\u201d state television quoted Ali Akbar Velayati as saying.<\/p>\n
The European signatories to the deal have been trying to persuade Trump to save the pact, reached under his predecessor Barack Obama. They argue it is crucial to forestalling a destabilizing Middle East arms race and that Iran has been abiding by its terms, a position also taken by US intelligence assessments and the UN nuclear watchdog agency.<\/p>\n
Zarif said: \u201cLet me make it absolutely clear and once and for all: we will neither outsource our security nor will we renegotiate or add onto a deal we have already implemented in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to Trump\u2019s past as a property magnate, Zarif added, \u201cTo put it in real estate terms, when you buy a house and move your family in, or demolish it to build a skyscraper, you cannot come back two years later and renegotiate the price.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defying Western demands, Iran has repeatedly said it has no intention of reducing its imprint in Middle East affairs and its missile capabilities, which it has said are defensive in nature and have nothing to with nuclear activity covered by the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt now appears that \u2026 some Europeans have been offering more concessions from our pocket,\u201d Zarif said. \u201cThis appeasement (of Trump) entails a new deal that would include matters we all decided to exclude at the outset of our negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zarif, speaking in English in the YouTube video, said the United States had \u201cconsistently violated the nuclear deal, particularly by bullying others to prevent businesses from returning to Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n
Major European banks and businesses continue to shun the Islamic Republic for fear of falling foul of remaining US sanctions, hampering Iran\u2019s efforts to rebuild foreign trade and lure much-needed foreign investment to its economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Iran\u2019s foreign minister said on Thursday US demands to change its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers were unacceptable as a deadline set by President Donald Trump for Europeans to \u201cfix\u201d the deal loomed. Trump has warned that unless European allies rectify the \u201cterrible flaws\u201d in the international accord by May 12, he will refuse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":87020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[32020,26779,37293,37292],"class_list":["post-87019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-foreign-minister","tag-iran","tag-mohammad-javad-zarif","tag-terrible-flaws"],"yoast_head":"\n