Nuclear Renegotiation Would Endanger Nat’l Interests

Iran is resisting the US administration's demand for reopening nuclear talks to avoid heightened US pressure aimed at undermining Iran's regional clout, a lawmaker said.

The pact is not a bilateral agreement for the US to unilaterally pull out or put it up for renegotiation, Jalil Rahimi added in a talk with ICANA on Sunday.

July 14 marked the second anniversary of the accord, concluded after 18 months of negotiations between Iran and P5+1 (the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany).

It was formally put in place in January 16, 2016, to ease sanctions against Iran and curtail its nuclear work.

"During the nuclear talks, Iran's team of diplomats made great effort to accommodate Iran's demands," Rahimi said, adding that it is one of the reasons for the US desperation to revisit the deal.

US President Donald Trump has faulted the accord, negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama, calling it "the worst deal ever".

On the campaign trail for the November 2016 election, he went so far as to vow to tear up the pact. But the hawkish Republican was brought back to his senses by the US partners and his aides who urged him to consider the consequences of ditching a UN-buttressed agreement.

Trump has since been calling for a full review of the deal, a demand that has faced a rebuff from the other five major powers involved in the nuclear talks.

"Iran achieved its goals in the negotiations and there is no point reengaging in a tough process because given the [hostile approach] of the current US administration, the Iranian negotiating delegation would face a tougher US stance and greater pressure," Rahimi said.

  Aims of US Pressures

The lawmaker noted that the US renegotiation push is aimed at compelling the Islamic Republic to compromise on its regional role, provoking it to withdraw from the accord and sowing division and chaos within Iran's ruling system.

In its latest anti-Iran move, the Trump administration announced a new series of sanctions over Tehran's ballistic missile program, targeting 18 individuals and entities that the US State Department claimed had backed the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps by developing drones and military equipment, producing marine vessels and procuring electronic components.

President Hassan Rouhani pledged to resist the fresh US sanctions, condemning them as a contravention of "the spirit and letter of the deal".

Rouhani said Iran will stay vigilant and not fall into a US trap meant to provoke the Islamic Republic to walk away from the pact.

"The Islamic Republic always has and will honor its commitments. Today one of the ploys of the Americans is to act in a way to make Iran say it is abandoning its obligations … This plot is doomed," he said.