IRAN ENTITLED to BENEFIT FROM nuclear deal, says Rouhani

TEHRAN: Iran is entitled to gain benefits from the 2015 nuclear deal and no one can roll back the positive results of the accord, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday.

“In the nuclear negotiations and the deal, we gained advantages that are irreversible. No one can reverse them, neither Trump nor anyone else,” Xinhua cited Press TV that quoted Rouhani as saying.

“In negotiation, we showed that we are not just strong at war, but we are also strong at making peace,” he said, adding that Iran established its right to peaceful nuclear energy during the talks and “this victory is not reversible.” The Iranian president said that the US was claiming it has been shortchanged in the deal, “which is of course wrong, because the deal has been based on a winwin framework.” The nuclear deal, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and six world powers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US in July 2015, now faces the risk of collapse amid a fallout between Washington and Tehran.

Trump called the Iran nuclear deal, reached during former US President Barack Obama’s administration, “an embarrassment” for the country.

Rouhani has said that his country will not be the first to violate the agreement, but will respond “decisively and resolutely” to any violation by any party. “It will be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics,” Rouhani told the UN General Assembly. BEIRUT: At least 11 civilians including two children were killed on Sunday in air strikes on a market in northwestern Syria, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes on the market in Idlib province’s Maaret al-numan were probably carried out by regime forces.

Much of Idlib province, including Maaret al-numan, is controlled by Hayat Tahrir alsham (HTS), a group led by Al- Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate.

Idlib is one of four so-called “de-escalation” zones under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran in May.

However, the HTS is not party to the agreement. REYHANLI: Turkish troops on Sunday exchanged fire with Syria-based jihadists as Ankara massed military vehicles on the frontier ahead of an expected operation to oust Al-qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate from Idlib province.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday announced the launch of an operation by pro-ankara Syrian rebel forces, backed by the Turkish army, to reimpose security in Idlib. Most of the northwestern region is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-sham (HTS), a group led by Al-qaeda’s former Syria affiliate, which ousted more moderate rebels in recent months.

Turkey has massed special forces and military hardware including tanks on the border but the operation has yet to begin in earnest, monitors and sources on the ground said. But Turkish forces fired seven mortars over the border with the aim of easing the passage of the proankara Syrian forces, the Dogan news agency reported. Turkish forces have also been seen removing parts of the security wall Ankara has built on the border so that military vehicles can pass through into Syria.

Pro-government media said that the operation was now into its “second day” and it was not immediately clear what the Turkish military’s next move would be. HTS jihadists this morning opened fire on Turkish forces removing part of a wall along the border between Turkey and Idlib, witnesses and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.