Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
The effect of confrontation of US President Donald Trump with Iran can backfire, as a result of which the world will lose hope for curbing Iran’s nuclear program and, ultimately, will face unpredictable consequences.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said if the US withdraws from the nuclear deal, Iran has a number of options in response.
Therefore, Tehran intends to respond to threats by US President Donald Trump to break the agreement unilaterally, Zarif told CNN.
Meanwhile, the foreign minister noted that his country has an accurate plan of action for such development of events.
“Iran has a number of options which include walking away from the deal and going back with greater speed with its nuclear program, which will remain peaceful but which will not address and accept the limitations that we voluntarily accepted over our nuclear program,” said Zarif.
"This means that, first of all, Iran will not allow any inspections on its nuclear facilities, and then the world will have to guess what happens there, he added.
Today, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the only authority engaged in the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, and inspections of IAEA confirm that Tehran respects all terms of the deal with the West. However, for some reason, the US doesn’t trust the IAEA, and always talks about doubts on Iran’s compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal.
Meanwhile, Iran is well aware of its advantageous position in the confrontation with the US, given that it is supported by all Western countries.
Zarif, in his recent interview with The New York Times, rejected any new negotiations with the United States over extending the length or conditions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying that Iran would talk about changing the deal only if every concession it made — including giving up nuclear fuel — were reconsidered.
What the administration really wanted, Zarif continued, was to keep the Iranian concessions while trying to extract more from Iran — but with no new concessions from the United States or other parties.
Tehran made a good move – in exchange for Washington’s desired change in the deal, to get preferences for Iran, given that the US hasn’t fully fulfilled its promises and hasn’t lifted all sanctions off Iran.
However, what will this game of giveaway lead to – is a big question. The fragile agreement, which gives the world the right to hope that nuclear weapons will not appear in Iran in the next few years, can shatter because of a principled dislike of a particular president towards a country.