Zarif Rejects Johnson’s Proposal for a New ‘Trump Deal’

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed a proposal for a new “Trump deal” to replace the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, saying the accord is not previous US president Barack Obama’s deal to expire. 

“We did not sign an "Obama deal" to go for a "Trump deal" now. Even if we did, who's to say we won't need Biden, Sanders or Warren deal next year?” Zarif said in a tweet on Wednesday, referring to US nominees competing against Trump in the 2020 presidential race. 

Iran believed in diplomacy “but not in re-negotiating a UNSC Resolution we agreed on with 6 Governments & EU,” he added.

The remarks came a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for US President Donald Trump to replace the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], with his own new pact to resolve differences.

Johnson was only advocating the replacement of the existing deal if Washington and Iran were able to negotiate a better one.

Trump said later in a tweet that he agreed with Johnson that a “Trump deal” should replace the Iran deal.

The US under Trump left the JCPOA in May 2018 and restored the sanctions that it had lifted. The UK, France, and Germany also bowed to the sanctions and refused to meet Iran’s business interests under the deal despite an earlier pledge to do so.

Trump has been critical of the agreement and called it the worst deal ever negotiated, proposing new negotiations to reach a “better” accord.

This comes as the JCPOA has been endorsed by the UN Security Council as a resolution.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also rejected Johnson’s proposal.

“I wonder what the British prime minister thinks when he says let’s scrap the JCPOA and put the Trump plan in action,” Rouhani said.