TEHRAN: Iran on Saturday rejected any modification of its nuclear deal withworld powers after US President Donald Trump demanded tough new measures tokeep the agreement alive.
Iran “will not accept any amendments in this agreement, be it now or in thefuture, 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 technicalname.
Trump again waived nuclear-related sanctions on Friday — as required everyfew months to stay in the agreement — but demanded European partners workwith the United States to “fix the deal´s disastrous flaws, or the UnitedStates will withdraw”.
He said the new deal should curb Iran´s missile programme and includepermanent restrictions on Iran´s nuclear plants, removing expiration datesdue to kick in after a decade.
But Iran´s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the 2015 deal couldnot be renegotiated.
“JCPOA is not renegotiable: rather than repeating tired rhetoric, US mustbring itself into full compliance — just like Iran,” Zarif tweetedimmediately after Trump´s speech.
The statement from his ministry further criticised new sanctions on 14individuals announced by the US Treasury on Friday over human rights issuesand Iran´s missile programme.
In particular, placing judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani on thesanctions list “crossed all red lines of conduct in the internationalcommunity… and the government of the United States will bear responsibilityfor all the consequences of this hostile move”.
Iran argues that continued US sanctions on non-nuclear areas such as humanrights and missile testing have effectively barred Iran from gaining manyof the financial benefits expected from the deal.
Zarif has said Trump´s aggressive stance on the deal and Iran generallyhave also violated the commitment to “refrain from any policy specificallyintended to directly and adversely affect the normalisation of trade andeconomic relations with Iran” in the accord. -Agencies