Iranian Spokesman Dismisses US Threats
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson highlighted the failure of the US threats against Iran, advising Washington to learn lessons as the main culprit behind the current state of the 2015 nuclear deal.
In a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday, Saeed Khatibzadeh reacted to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who has warned that Washington would turn to “other options” if diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program fails.
“Threats have never worked against Iran,” Khatibzadeh said. “The supposed US ‘options’ have already been tested in our region. Resulting catastrophic US defeats & the mess left for others to address are evident for all to see.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman also stressed that the US administration is to blame for the current state of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Press TV reported.
“As main culprit behind current state of JCPOA, US should embrace lessons,” Khatibzadeh added.
Iran and six world powers, including the US, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany, inked the JCPOA in July 2015. The agreement removed international sanctions on Iran in exchange for certain limits on Iran’s nuclear activities.
The deal, however, was unilaterally abandoned by the US under former president Donald Trump in 2018 despite Iran’s full compliance with its nuclear undertakings, as repeatedly certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The US then unleashed a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran which practically deprived the country of all of the deal’s economic benefits.
Iran fully honored its nuclear obligations for an entire year, after which it decided to ramp up its nuclear work as a legal “remedial measure” against the US violation of the deal and the abject failure on the part of the other signatories, the E3 in particular, to safeguard its benefits.