TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the United States has so far done economic blows to the 2015 nuclear deal but if Washington does a “political blow” to the multilateral agreement Iran will not “tolerate” it and will give a decisive response.

The threats by Rouhani came as the Trump administration is working hard to extend arms embargo against Iran in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 which endorsed the nuclear deal, officially known as the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).
Under the resolution, arms embargo against Iran ends in October.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday sought to reassert America’s waning influence on the world stage, challenging the UN Security Council to extend arms embargo that is due to expire in October. 

Instead, America’s top diplomat received a scolding from friends and foes alike in the 15-nation council, which roundly criticized Washington for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal two years ago without a clear plan to limit Tehran’s nuclear activities, according to Foreign Policy.

Rouhani said the UN turned again into a “scene of political defeat” for the United States in its illegal moves against Iran. 

The president said the U.S. announces that it has succeeded to put economic pressure on Iran “but politically, legally, morally it has faced repeated failures.” 

“Last night (Tuesday afternoon based on Iran’s local time) 14 members of the Security Council praised the JCPOA and supported it. These 14 members backed the JCPOA and Resolution 2231,” Rouhani remarked.

The president also said the U.S. draft resolution against Iran for extending arms embargo also faced a backlash by the Security Council and the world public opinion.

At the opening of Tuesday’s virtual session, Rosemary DiCarlo, a former U.S. State Department official who serves as UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, praised the nuclear pact as a “significant achievement of multilateral diplomacy and dialogue” and expressed “regret” over the U.S. decision to withdraw, noting that Iran was in compliance with the pact before Trump’s abrupt decision to pull the plug.

But she also expressed regret that since July 2019 Iran has violated key provisions of the nuclear pact, surpassing limits on the size of its stockpiles of heavy water and low-enriched uranium and engaging in prohibited nuclear research and development activities.

Rouhani said if the remaining parties to the nuclear deal honor their commitments to the JCPOA, Iran will immediately reverse its decision in removing caps on its nuclear activities. 

“Any hour that 4+1 group become ready to honor all their commitments, the Islamic Republic of Iran also will return to its JCPOA commitments,” the president asserted.

4+1 refers to France, Britain, China, and Russia as permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

The U.S. officially exited the nuclear deal in May 2018 and started imposing the harshest sanctions in line with its declared “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

Iran waited for a year that the European side compensate for the sanctions. Seeing no action on the part of Europe, in May 2019 Iran stated that its “strategic patience” is over started to gradually remove limits on its nuclear program. 

Rouhani said Iran has always been committed to its political, moral and legal commitments.”