Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday US demands to change its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers are unacceptable as a deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Europeans to "fix" the deal looms.
Trump has warned that unless European allies rectify the "terrible flaws" in the international accord, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, by May 12, he will refuse to extend US sanctions relief for the oil-producing country.
"Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented," Zarif said in a video message posted on social media.
Britain, France and Germany remain committed to the accord and are trying to keep Washington in it, but want to open talks on Iran's ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025–when key provisions of the deal expire–and its role in Middle East issues such as Syria and Yemen.
A senior adviser to Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei also warned Europeans on Thursday over "revising" the nuclear deal, under which Iran strictly limited its enrichment of uranium and won major sanctions relief in return.
"Even if US allies, especially the Europeans, try to revise the deal..., one of our options will be withdrawing from it," state television quoted Ali Akbar Velayati as saying.
Velayati warned against any move to try to renegotiate the 2015 deal.
"Iran accepts the nuclear agreement as it has been prepared and will not accept adding or removing anything," he said.
"Even if countries allied with the United States, especially the Europeans, seek to revise the nuclear agreement ... one of our options will be withdrawing from the accord," Velayati stressed.
The European signatories to the deal have been trying to persuade Trump to save the pact, reached under his predecessor Barack Obama. They argue it is crucial to forestalling a destabilizing Middle East arms race and that Iran has been abiding by its terms, a position also taken by US intelligence assessments and the UN nuclear watchdog agency.
***Once and for All
Zarif said, "Let me make it absolutely clear and once and for all: we will neither outsource our security nor will we renegotiate or add onto a deal we have already implemented in good faith."
Referring to Trump's past as a property magnate, Zarif added, "To put it in real estate terms, when you buy a house and move your family in, or demolish it to build a skyscraper, you cannot come back two years later and renegotiate the price."
Defying western demands, Iran has repeatedly said it has no intention of reducing its imprint in Middle East affairs and its missile capabilities, which it has said are defensive in nature and have nothing to with nuclear activity covered by the deal.
"In the last year or so, we've been told that President Trump is unhappy with the deal, and it now appears that the response from some Europeans has been to offer the United States more concessions, from our pocket," Zarif said.
"This appeasement entails a new deal that would include matters we all decided to exclude at the outset of our negotiations," he added.
Zarif was responding to Britain, France and Germany who said on Sunday that the nuclear agreement left out some "important elements".
Zarif said the United States had "consistently violated the nuclear deal, particularly by bullying others to prevent businesses from returning to Iran."
Major European banks and businesses continue to shun the Islamic Republic for fear of falling foul of remaining US sanctions, hampering Iran's efforts to rebuild foreign trade and lure much-needed foreign investment to its economy.
"If the US continues to violate the agreement, or if it withdraws altogether, we will exercise our right to respond in a manner of our choosing," said Zarif.
France, Britain and Germany understand the economic consequences if the United States pulls out of the Iran nuclear deal and are working to strengthen the deal, the US State Department said on Thursday, UPI reported.
"We've been clear about the ramifications and the way things would work in that nature," State Department Press Secretary Heather Nauert said at a press briefing.
Nauert said the US concerns about the deal "have been heard" by the European leaders, and the countries are collaborating on ways to strengthen the deal.
