Tehran, January 13 (RHC)-- The Iranian foreign ministry says that the nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers “is not renegotiable” -- replying to a new threat to the pact by U.S. President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Trump warned the U.S. would pull out of the agreement unless what he described as its “terrible flaws” are fixed.
In a statement, the Iranian foreign ministry said that Iran “will not accept any change in the deal, neither now nor in the future” and it will not take any action beyond its commitments.
Trump has extended the U.S. commitment to the deal for another 120 days. He said he was waiving the sanctions against Iran for the last time in order to give Congress and European allies time to -- in his words -- improve the agreement or face a U.S. pull out of the pact.
The U.S president said four "critical components" must now be worked into the agreement: immediate inspections at all sites requested by international inspectors, measures to ensure Iran "never even comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon", no policy "expiration date", and no distinction between the Islamic Republic's long-range missile and nuclear weapons programs regarding the imposition of sanctions.
The US president is required to renew the existing deal every 120 days under American law.
Diplomacy Works, a group founded by former U.S. secretary of state John Kerry to defend the 2015 deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, said “... the president’s plan includes bullying our allies into fundamentally altering the terms of a deal that they know is working for our mutual security and have publicly stated they have no interest in amending.”
According to the Russian Information Agency, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has condemned Trump's comments as "extremely negative.”