Trump’s body will be turned into food for worms
Fury of Iran leader as US dumps nuclear deal
IRAN launched a furious attack on Donald Trump yesterday after the US President tore up an international deal designed to limit Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Politicians burned the US flag and a copy of the agreement as supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that Mr Trump’s body ‘will turn to ashes’ and be ‘food for worms’.
He also warned that he didn’t ‘trust’ the other signatories to the agreement, including the UK, but appeared to leave the door open to it continuing.
Mr Trump pulled the plug on the 2015 agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on Tuesday, describing it as ‘the worst deal ever’.
The decision was greeted with dismay by European leaders, who have lobbied the President to keep the accord, which reduces economic sanctions in return for a freeze in the development of nuclear material.
Last night the White House said that Mr Trump is preparing to impose additional sanctions on Iran, perhaps as early as next week.
A spokesman said: ‘ We are 100 per cent committed to making sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons. We’re going to continue to put maximum pressure, enormous sanctions on them.
‘All of the sanctions that were in place before the deal are back in place and we are preparing to add additional sanctions that may come as early as next week.’
It came as Boris Johnson declared Britain has ‘no intention of walking away’ from the deal – and urged Mr Trump to come up with a replacement plan.
The Foreign Secretary said he would work with the EU and other signatories to the agreement to try and make it work and would not follow the US in imposing sanctions.
However, British firms who continue to trade with Iran could find themselves facing legal consequences in the US.
Addressing the Commons, Mr Johnson said yesterday: ‘For as long as Iran abides by the agreement ... then Britain will remain a party to the JCPOA. Britain has no intention of walking away.
‘Instead we will co-operate with the other parties to ensure that while Iran continues to restrict its nuclear programme, then its people will benefit from sanctions relief in accordance with the central bargain of the deal.
‘In the meantime, I urge the US to avoid taking any action that would hinder other parties from continuing to make the agreement work in the interests of our collective national security.’
He downplayed the prospect of a military response from the US. ‘If it has military options, frankly I have yet to see them,’ he said. However, Mr Trump yesterday warned Iran against resuming its nuclear weapons programme, telling them doing so would result in ‘severe consequence’.
Most US sanctions will start to come into force in 90 days, and six months for those related to energy. European countries are consider- ing options to counter them. The proposals are due to be discussed at a meeting in London on Monday between the UK, France and Germany’s foreign ministers as well as their Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The Times reported that they will seek to reassure Mr Zarif that they are committed to preventing the US sanctions derailing a deal.
Yesterday it was reported that Theresa May had phoned Mr Trump over the weekend in a bid to stop him from dropping the Iran nuclear deal, although her pleas went unheard.
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, has warned that it could restart uranium enrichment ‘without any limitations’ within weeks.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in the theocratic regime, said Tehran would quit the deal unless European signatories offered solid guarantees that trade relations would continue.
He said: ‘The body of this man, Trump, will turn to ashes and become the food of the worms and ants while the Islamic Republic continues to stand.’
He told the crowd that Iranian officials ‘want to continue the nuclear deal’ with Britain, France and Germany, but added: ‘I do not trust these countries either.’
‘If you cannot get a strong guarantee from them, and I see it very unlikely that you can, we could not move and continue like this any more.’
In Tehran, demonstrators – including politicians – shouted ‘death to America’ and burned the Stars and Stripes.
‘Death to America’