TEHRAN – Iran could backtrack on its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers “within hours” if Washington slaps new sanctions on Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned, noting that the US has proved to be a “unreliable negotiator.”
“If America wants to go back to the experience [of imposing sanctions], Iran would certainly return in a short time – not a week or a month but within hours – to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations,” Rouhani told a session of parliament broadcast live on state television, as cited by international news agency.
“The world has clearly seen that under Trump, America has ignored international agreements and, in addition to undermining the [nuclear deal], has broken its word on the Paris agreement and the Cuba accord… and that the United States is not a good partner or a reliable negotiator,” he said.
In early August, US President Donald Trump signed into law a bill, passed by the US Congress, which imposes sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea.
Following the decision, prominent libertarian and former Congressman Ron Paul accused Trump of betraying his promises to the American people by seeking a new conflict with either Iran or North Korea, warning the president that any such war will put an end to his term.
“President Trump seems to be impatiently racing toward at least one disastrous war. Maybe two. The big question is who will be first? North Korea or Iran?” Ron Paul wrote in his weekly column published on the site of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity last month.
Trump “seems determined to push a confrontation,” while Iran was actually “in compliance” with the deal, Paul said.
