Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, that the country’s missile program will continue and is not in breach of its nuclear deal, despite objections from the Trump White House.
Earlier this month, Trump said that the nuclear deal signed in 2015, was one of worst, one-sided agreements that the US had ever entered into and claimed that Iranians have committed “multiple violations of the agreement.”
Rouhani fired back, in quotes from the country’s official website, calling into question the Trump administration’s credibility.
“If a government like the US government states that it is not committed to an important international commitment, and its reason is that the previous administration has been tricked, then what happens with the continuity of the responsibility of the governments?” it quoted him as saying. “You are explicitly violating your previous agreements and neglecting a UN Security Council-approved agreement.”
The fact that the plan does not address Iran’s nuclear missile program is one reason why Trump had been dissatisfied with the agreement.
“Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!” the US leader tweeted in late September.
In his October 13 speech, Trump said: “We cannot and will not make this certification. We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout.
Rouhani struck a typical defiant tone citing that the missile program was not part of the nuclear deal and that the Iranian government will continue to build and store any weapon they feel that they need to defend themselves. He finished with the requisite threat that “the enemies should know that violation of any agreement will be detrimental to them and the Islamic Republic of Iran will give them a decisive answer.
The decision by Trump to decertify the agreement puts the onus back in Congress’ hands. They’ll have 60 days to decide whether or not to re-impose sanctions on Iran which would put the US in violation of the deal.
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