Rouhani: Nuke Deal Collapse Dangerous, Iran’s Strategy Is Reciprocal

By Staff, Live Coverage

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani asserted the importance of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal with world powers, saying its collapse is dangerous.

“The collapse of the Iranian nuclear deal is dangerous on both Iran and the world,” Rouhani said in a live speech on Wednesday.

The Iranian leader slammed the United States, the “Israeli” entity and other regional players for standing against the deal from the very beginning.

“America, the Zionist entity and some fusty countries in the region have been facing Iran and the nuclear agreement since its inception,” Rouhani said.

He went on to say that “The enemies of the nuclear deal have devoted most of their attention to obstructing its implementation since 2012”.

Rouhani asserted that “The Iranian move is a reciprocal action to US complete withdrawal from it under President Donald Trump”.

Elsewhere in his speech, the Iranian President confirmed compliance with the nuclear deal saying, “We implemented all the mechanisms of the agreement and legally provided all what is required from Iran”.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] confirmed that Iran has complied with all the terms of the nuclear agreement”, he added.

Nonetheless, Rouhani said that Iran will give a 60-day moratorium to the states parties to Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] to remedy their breaches and restore Iran's interests enshrined by the international deal.

“Based on a decision made by Iran's Supreme National Security Council, I sent messages to the remaining five countries in the nuclear deal, announcing that we gave them one year as they requested us,” Rouhani said.

“It was a strategic patience on our part,” he said clarifying that Iran “is not leaving the nuclear deal today”.

“It is not the end of JCPOA, rather it is a new phase of the deal in the context and in line with the wording of the JCPOA”, he added.

“Articles of 26 and 36 entitled Iran to raise complaint about breach of the international deal in the joint commission,” Rouhani noted.

In the message, “we announced the remaining signatories that Iran has changed its mind on the two measures it has taken based on the deal”, Rouhani said in reference to the selling the enriched uranium and heavy water for the next 60 days.

After the period, Rouhani added, “if the five countries come to the negotiation table to come to terms with Iran's interests particularly with regard to oil and banking, we would return to the previous position”.

Otherwise, the 3.6 percent level of enrichment and the heavy water reactor restrictions would not be observed.

Iran has delivered letters to ambassadors outlining its partial withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, state television reported, without elaborating on what steps it plans to take.

The letters have been delivered to the leaders of Britain, China, the European Union, France and Germany.

All were signatories to the nuclear deal, under which Iran limited its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. A letter was also sent to Russia.