Zarif: Trump Wants JCPOA Squashed At Iran’s Expense
Local Editor
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at US President Donald Trump for seeking to scrap at the expense of Iran's landmark nuclear agreement reached between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US, in 2015.
The US president has always wanted to "kill" the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], Zarif said on his official Twitter account on Friday.
"To avoid isolation, he's trying to blame it on Iran," he added.
"Bad faith on top of US violating the letter and spirit [of the JCPOA]," Zarif said.
The US president on Thursday claimed that Iran was not "living up to the spirit" of the JCPOA and said he thought it was a "horrible agreement."
"I don't think Iran is in compliance. I don't think they're living up to the spirit of the agreement," Trump said in New Jersey.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany reached the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and began implementing it in January 2016.
Under the agreement, limits were put on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against the Islamic Republic.
The UN Security Council later unanimously endorsed a resolution that effectively turned the JCPOA into international law.
Trump has been a virulent critic of the JCPOA signed under his predecessor Barack Obama, calling it "the worst deal ever."
However, the US Senate and Treasury Department imposed new sanctions against the Islamic Republic and several Iranian companies and individuals in recent months over its national missile program, which is not in breach of the JCPOA.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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