Dash for bomb if Trump cans deal
IRAN: Iran has warned that it is ready to ‘‘vigorously pursue’’ its nuclear weapons programme if President Donald Trump withdraws the US from the deal that halted it in 2015.
The statement appeared to be calculated to complicate Trump’s preparations for talks in the coming weeks with Kim Jong-un about North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said that Trump’s threats to restore economic sanctions that were lifted in 2015 sent a ‘‘very dangerous message’’ that the US could not be trusted to keep its word, and would deter Kim from cutting his own disarmament deal. ‘‘You should never come to an agreement with the United States, because at the end of the day the operating principle of the United States is ‘What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable’,’’ he said.
The comments underscored the complexity of the diplomatic maze Trump must negotiate. He has surrounded himself with hawkish advisers who have denounced the Iran deal and openly mused about regime change in Tehran. At the same time he has opened the door to nuclear diplomacy with the Kim regime. He dismissed criticism that he had rewarded Kim with the prestige of a face-to-face meeting, planned for next month or early June, without obtaining meaningful concessions.
North Korea declared on Saturday that it would suspend missile launches and shut down a site used for six nuclear tests, and it appears to have accepted the presence of American troops in South Korea.
Trump called the developments ‘‘big progress’’, although America has long made clear that a halt on weapons testing was a precondition for talks. A buoyantsounding Kim made no direct commitment to work towards nuclear disarmament and western analysts suggested that the changes he had promised could quickly be reversed.
US officials appear confident that Kim had agreed to ‘‘the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula’’ but it is unclear that the two sides agree on what that would entail. North Korea’s state news agency quoted Kim as saying: ‘‘We no longer need any nuclear test or test launches of intermediate and intercontinental range ballistic missiles. Because of this the northern nuclear test site has finished its mission.’’
Trump said on Twitter: ‘‘Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearisation (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!’’ He repeated a warning that his engagement with Pyongyang may yet fall through. ‘‘We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t – only time will tell . . .’’
The Iran deal, struck during Barack Obama’s presidency after more than a decade of talks, offered sanctions relief for America’s old enemy if it agreed to mothball its nuclear programme. Trump has now given his European allies until May 12 to amend the pact, in part by adding restrictions to Iran’s weapons programmes. If no changes come through he has threatened to reintroduce US sanctions.
Zarif said that Iran would not agree to new restrictions and warned of ‘‘drastic action’’.
The probable response to a US withdrawal from the deal would be to restart production of enriched uranium; a significant step in weapons production, he said.
‘‘We will pursue vigorously our nuclear enrichment,’’ Zarif said in New York, where he is attending a meeting of the UN general assembly.
‘‘We will make a decision based on our national security interests when the times comes. But whatever that decision will be, it won’t be very pleasant to the United States. The United States has not only failed to implement its side [of the deal], but is even asking for more. That’s a very dangerous message to send.’’
President Emmanuel Macron of France is expected to lobby Trump to stick with the Iran deal when he arrives in Washington this week for the first state visit hosted by the president. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, will meet Trump at the White House at the end of the week, at the same time North and South Korea’s leaders are due to hold a historic summit.
Kim will travel south of the military demarcation line that divides the Korean peninsula on Saturday, becoming the first North Korean leader to do so since armed conflict ended in 1953. He is due to meet President Moon Jae-in; together they are expected to declare an end to the Korean War, which concluded with an armistice rather than a full peace treaty in 1953.