Iran says new US sanctions violate nuclear agreements, promises “proportional reaction”
Iran said new sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday broke the terms of its nuclear deal with the United States and other world powers and promised an “appropriate and proportionate” response.
Trump, who called the nuclear deal – negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama – “the worst deal of all time” during his election campaign, signed new sanctions and measures against Russia and North Korea.
Iran had already said it would complain to the body overseeing the 2015 agreement – under which it agreed to halt its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief – on measures passed in Congress last week in response to a development program Missile and human rights abuses.
“In our view, the nuclear agreement has been violated and we will show a proper and proportional reaction to this issue,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an interview with state television, according to the ISNA news agency.
While Russia has reacted to sanctions by expelling personnel from the United States embassy, Iran has no diplomatic ties or direct trade ties with the United States, so its options are limited. Araqchi said Tehran’s response would be “smart.”
“The main objective of the United States in approving these sanctions against Iran is to destroy the nuclear agreement and we will show a very intelligent reaction to this action,” Araqchi said.
“We’re definitely not going to act in a way that will entangle us in the US government’s policy and Trump.”
The new US sanctions, signed a day before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani takes part in a ceremony before being sworn in for a second term, will likely embolden his hardliners who say the nuclear deal was a form Of capitulation.
The United States is one of six countries that signed the agreement with Iran, and the others – Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – have said they see it as a success to ease concerns that Iran may be trying to develop Nuclear weapons
The agreement has also meant that European countries will meet to invest in oil-rich Iran, and France’s Total agrees to develop a new phase of the South Pars gas field, the world’s largest.
Araqchi said Europeans will not allow Trump to destroy the nuclear deal.
“What Total did and the contract that was signed between this company and Iran sent a message from Europe to the Americans that whatever the conditions will be that will follow their economic relations with Iran,” he said.
In a separate statement, Tehran confirmed that Mr Rouhani will hold two key ministers for his second term: Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, credited to a large extent by closing the deal for Total and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, negotiator Of Iran in the nuclear agreement.
