US accused of daily violations of nuclear deal agreed with Iran
Iran accused the United States of “daily violations” of their 2015 nuclear accord and criticised President Donald Trump for poisoning business against the country as Tehran faces renewed sanctions for its aggression and missile proliferation activities.
Abbas Araghchi, a deputy foreign minister, told a meeting at Chatham House, the Western international affairs institute in London, that the US’s call to scrap sunset clauses in the agreement that phases out restrictions on nuclear activity would not be accepted by the Iranian government.
Any attempt to link the sanctions relief within the deal to the policies that have implicated Iran in conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon would also be rejected by Tehran.
“It would be a big mistake now if people were to link the [deal] to any other issue,” he said. “To make these restrictions permanent means killing the deal. We accepted 10 to 15 years of restrictions for the sake of confidence building, doesn’t mean we have to build confidence forever.”
After the US National Security Adviser HR McMaster at a summit in Munich at the weekend warned against investment and trade deals with Iran, the Iranian diplomat said the rhetoric from Washington was destroying any potential for benefits that Iran could gain from the accord.
“The US is violating [the deal] almost on a daily basis, they created atmosphere of uncertainty, poisonous for international business. The deal can’t continue in this way, we can’t stay in the deal which has no benefits for us,” he said.
Mr Trump declined to certify that the accord was in the interests of the US in October and has said he would scrap it and reimpose sanctions unless European allies align with the US in fixing what he regards as significant flaws in the deal.
Mr Araghchi has a reputation as a moderate and has been engaged with European diplomats who are consulting with Tehran ahead of Mr Trump’s May deadline for a toughening of sanctions against Iran.
While in Britain, he met Alistair Burt, UK foreign office minister for the Middle East.
“Iran is a pivotal actor in the wider Middle East. In my meetings I urged the Iranian government to play a more positive role in the region, particularly in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria,” said Mr Burt.
However he ruled out negotiations over Iran’s missile programme and said that the country would not sign up to non-proliferation undertakings for another six years, if at all.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Araghchi said there was little Iran could do to ease the suffering of those under siege by the Syrian government in places like Eastern Ghouta.
After Israel warned Iran not to test its defences from Syria, the Iranian diplomat shrugged off Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s complaints about Tehran’s role in the Syrian civil war.
“Fear of war is everywhere in our region unfortunately because of the, you know, interference by foreign powers and wrong policies and miscalculations of some players inside the region, and of course the hegemonic policies of the Israeli regime,” he said. “For the time, being the situation in Syria has become very complicated.”