TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Iran could remain in the 2015 nuclear deal without the U.S. if its interests are guaranteed, otherwise it has other plans.

“The people should be sure that we will take necessary decisions for various moves of the U.S. and it is the U.S. who will suffer harms in this respect,” Rouhani said at an administrative council meeting in Mashhad.

He noted that the U.S. will make a “strategic mistake” if it scraps the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The U.S. has always sought to restrict Iran’s independence and power but Iran will strongly resist the U.S. schemes, the president added.

Trump is set to decide by May 12 to either keep the U.S. in the nuclear deal or not.

The nuclear parties including the European Union, Germany, Britain, France, Russia, and China have reiterated their support for the international nuclear agreement which was signed in July 2015 and took effect in January 2016.

Rouhani said on Sunday that the U.S. will suffer “historic regret” if Trump’s administration quits the JCPOA.

NA/PA