Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday Tehran may act “unpredictably” in response to the United States’ “unpredictable” policies under U.S. President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since President Trump’s administration last year quit an international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and began to ratchet up sanctions. Iranian officials denounced the new penalties as “economic warfare”.

“Mutual unpredictability will lead to chaos. President Trump cannot expect to be unpredictable and expect others to be predictable. Unpredictability will lead to mutual unpredictability and unpredictability is chaotic,” Zarif said in a speech at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Zarif also said, “You cannot have an island of security by your fleet in the Persian Gulf when the United States is waging an economic war against Iran.”

‘If Europe observes commitments Iran will fully implement JCPOA’

The chief diplomat also said if the Europeans fully honor their commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran will immediately reverse its decision in scaling down its obligations.

“Even if the United States does not return to the nuclear deal, Iran will return to the first stage in several hours… on the condition that the European side fully implements its obligations,” Zarif asserted.

U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in May 2018 and returned the previous sanctions and imposed new ones.

So far, Iran has taken two steps in reducing its nuclear commitments: increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium beyond the 300 kilograms allowed under the JCPOA – the official name for the nuclear deal – and enriching nuclear fuel to the purity level of 4.5 percent.

Under the agreement, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent.

PA/PA