By staff and agency

Zarif says Trump quits nuclear deal for personal reasons

August 30, 2019 - 19:27

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that U.S. President Donald Trump quit the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, for personal reasons and not for some substantial reasons.

“He (Trump) doesn’t like (former President Barack) Obama’s legacy, he just wants to withdraw from the deal because of personal reasons, not because of some substantial reasons,” he told Bernama news channel published on Friday.

He also said that Iran will not renegotiate its part in the JCPOA, but is open to talks with all parties concerned to find ways forward in fulfilling the obligations.

He noted that the deal had been carefully negotiated and that it is impossible to renegotiate it.

He urged other European members of the deal to remain committed to the agreement.

“Iran will remain faithful to this deal, to the same extent other members are faithful to this deal,” he noted.

“We are ready to talk and consult with others on how to best implement this deal. We are talking about Europe coming to comply with its own obligations under the deal. If they need to engage with the United States themselves in order to be able to comply with the obligation, then that’s something they would do and Iran would not have any role in it,” he said.

Elsewhere, he said, “We (have) already talked to the U.S. extensively for over two years and we’ve reached a conclusion ... that was 159-page long... it is a serious agreement, (including) almost all aspects of the nuclear issues as well as the aspect of the U.S. sanctions against Iran.”

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in May 2018 from the JCPOA, which was reached between Iran and six world powers in 2015.

Kim Darroch, the former British ambassador to the United States, said the Trump administration was “set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism” in its decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal, the Daily Mail reported in July, citing leaked cables.

According to the Daily Mail, the former ambassador said Trump seemed to be discarding the Iran nuclear deal for “personality reasons,” as the deal had been agreed to by former President Barack Obama. The paper also reported that Darroch hinted at discord brewing between Trump's closest aides and said the White House had failed to produce a "day-after" plan on how to handle the aftermath of withdrawing from the deal.

Ben Rhodes, former President Barack Obama’s adviser, tweeted on July 14, saying that Trump quit the JCPOA because Obama negotiated it.

“Did anyone really need a leaked document from the UK Ambassador to know that Trump pulled out of the Iran Deal because Obama negotiated it?” he said.

NA

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