Iran's Zarif says Trump demands on nuclear deal are unacceptable
- By Reuters -
- Apr 28, 2018
MOSCOW: Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday that demands by US President Donald Trump to change Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers were unacceptable.
Trump has said that unless European allies fix the “terrible flaws” in the Iran nuclear deal by May 12, he will refuse to extend US sanctions relief for oil-producing Iran.
Read More: US not seeking to reopen Iran nuclear deal, envoy says
Iran rejects any new nuclear deal proposed by US, France
Earlier, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani rejected any hopes of rewriting a nuclear deal with world powers, after the leaders of the United States and France called for a new pact covering Tehran’s missile programme and regional interventions.
“We have an agreement called the JCPOA,” said Rouhani in a fiery speech, using the technical name for the 2015 deal that curbed Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
“It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full.”
He was responding to statements in Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron and his US counterpart Donald Trump, in which they proposed a new deal with tougher restrictions on Iran.
Trump called the existing accord “insane” and “ridiculous”, despite European pleas for him not to walk away, and demanded fresh curbs on Iran’s ballistic missile programme and support for militant groups across the Middle East.
Macron said the new agreement should include a settlement on Syria, where Iran backs President Bashar al-Assad.