The benefits that Tehran has already gained from the 2015 nuclear deal with the world powers are “irreversible” and no one, including the US President Donald Trump, can take them back, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said.
As a result of the 2015 nuclear agreement also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran “has achieved benefits that are irreversible,” the Islamic Republic’s president said in a speech at the Tehran University, marking the beginning of the academic year.
Rouhani went on to say that no one can possibly reverse the effects of the deal, including Trump. “If 10 other Trumps emerged in the world” and sought to roll back the benefits of the 2015 nuclear agreement, they would still ultimately fail, he added.
The president also said that, during the talks on the deal, Tehran demonstrated both its “political might” and the ability of its diplomats to “adequately adapt” to successfully conduct negotiations with the world powers, as reported by the Iranian state Press TV.
“In negotiating [with world powers], we showed that we are not just strong at war [but] we’re also strong at peace,” he said, adding that “political power” that Iran got as a result of the negotiations cannot just “go away.”
The president then warned that a violation of the deal by the US would be harmful primarily to Washington’s own interests. “Today, if the United States violates the JCPOA, the whole world [will] condemn Washington, not Tehran,” he said, as cited by Iranian media.
“The party who makes a deal will not lose anything; rather, the one who breaches a deal loses face and dignity,” Rouhani added.
Earlier on Saturday, the Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif also criticized the US administration for the threats to withdraw from the deal in an interview with Al Jazeera by saying that such moves would not “help peace and security in the region” and would only harm the long-term interests of the US.
At the same time, he warned that Tehran could partially or completely withdraw from the deal if it were violated by the US. He went on to say that the previous US sanctions made Iran “immune” to any future restrictive measures so Tehran would not submit to any threats from Washington.
The diplomat also slammed the US for what he called its “addiction” to sanctions.
The statements came just days after Trump discussed the Iranian nuclear deal with the top US military officials. During that meeting, the US president once again accused Tehran of violating the “spirit” of the agreement and included Iran in a list of "challenges we should've taken care of a long time ago.”
Trump, however, did not comment on whether he plans to re-certify the deal, as the October 15 deadline for certification draws near. If the Trump administration chose to decertify the deal, Congress would have 60 days to decide whether to re-impose sanctions on Iran, which would effectively end the agreement.
The deal, which the US entered back in 2015 under then President Barack Obama’s administration, envisages Iran Tehran limiting its nuclear program for fifteen years in exchange for easing the pre-existing sanctions.
Trump has repeatedly called the agreement the “worst deal ever negotiated,” and pledged to “dismantle” it.