Iran will drop nuclear deal if US withdraws, foreign minister tells media

ANKARA: Iran will abandon the nuclear deal it reached with six major powers if the United States decides to withdraw from it, its foreign minister told Qatar’s al Jazeera TV in New York.

A collapse of the 2015 deal, which U.S. President Donald Trump has called “an embarrassment” but which is supported by the other major powers that negotiated it with Iran, could trigger a regional arms race and worsen tensions in the Middle East.

“If Washington decides to pull out of the nuclear deal, Iran will withdraw too,” Al Jazeera TV wrote on its Twitter feed, quoting the minister.

Washington will be in a better position if it remains committed to the deal.”

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering whether the accord serves U.S. security interests as he faces a mid-October deadline for certifying that Iran is complying with the pact.

Iranian authorities had repeatedly said that Tehran would not be the first to violate the agreement under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear programme in return for a loosening of the economic sanctions that had crippled its economy.