Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned that any infringement of the nuclear deal by the next American president would result in Iran backing away from its commitments altogether.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not be the first to renege on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, because it is against Qur'anic teachings," Ayatollah Khamenei said late Tuesday, referring to the pact by its formal name.
"But if the threat by US presidential candidates to tear up the JCPOA is implemented, the Islamic Republic will set fire to it, in line with another Qur'anic instruction about how to react to a broken promise by the other party to the deal."
The Leader was addressing a meeting with high-ranking officials to mark the fasting month of Ramadan.
Loopholes
He said the nuclear pact has both advantages and disadvantages, saying, "The action plan has loopholes and had they been closed, it could have reduced or at least eliminated the disadvantages."
Ayatollah Khamenei went on to cite instances of the US refusal to fulfill its obligations. "The opposite side's commitment was to lift the sanctions, but it has not fulfilled this duty. Some sanctions have been lifted in some way, but in practice the sanctions have not been [generally] lifted."
"The Americans have kept fully in place the initial restrictions and this issue affects the secondary sanctions that were supposed to be removed."
"Officials involved [in the JCPOA] must take into consideration these realities and stop repeating that the sanctions have been lifted," leader.ir quoted him as saying.
He said the residual US sanctions have denied Iran full access to overseas investment and finances, to its frozen assets abroad and to insurance cover for its oil tankers.
"Fortunately, the possibility of recovering the [pre-deal] status has been preserved and if we deem it necessary we can acquire 100,000 SWUs [of uranium enrichment capacity using] new-generation centrifuges in less than one year and a half. The opposite side should not think that our hands are tied."
