Zarif to Pompeo: Iranians decide their destiny

TEHRAN (Agencies): Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif has reacted to recent reports that his American counterpart is preparing a legal argument that the US is still a participant to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, warning the American side that the Iranian nation is the sole party that can decide the country’s fate.

Zarif made the remarks in a tweet on Monday after a Sunday report by The New York Times said, “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is preparing a legal argument that the United States remains a participant in the Iran nuclear accord that (US) President (Donald) Trump has renounced.”

The American daily added that the new plan is “part of an intricate strategy to pressure the United Nations Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Tehran or see far more stringent sanctions re-imposed on the country.”

The Fox News Channel also reported on Monday that “this plan would give the US standing at the United Nations Security Council to push to extend the arms embargo on Iran expiring in October, and restore sanctions for Iran’s violations of the deal.”

In reaction to the US media reports, Zarif made a reference in his Monday tweet to a US presidential memoranda released on May 8, 2018, in which Trump’s administration declared its decision to cease the country’s participation in the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and take additional action to counter what it called “Iran’s malign influence” in the West Asia region.

Describing Pompeo’s new remarks as a sign of the failure of the Trump administration in its effort to bring Iran to its knees through the re-imposition of illegal sanctions, which had been lifted under the nuclear deal, Zarif wrote, “2 yrs ago, @SecPompeo and his boss declared ‘CEASING US participation’ in JCPOA, dreaming that their ‘max pressure’ would bring Iran to its knees. Given that policy’s abject failure, he now wants to be JCPOA participant.”

Zarif added, “Stop dreaming: Iranian Nation always decides its destiny,” alluding to the fact that the Iranian nation will never give in to foreign pressure in pursuit of its goals.

Ever since quitting the nuclear deal in May 2018, Trump has been running what he refers to as a “maximum pressure” campaign, which seeks to pressure Iran into negotiating a new deal that addresses its ballistic missile program and regional influence.

Iranian officials, however, say it was Washington that left the JCPOA although the international and multilateral deal was endorsed by the UN Security Council in the form of Resolution 2231. Tehran says talks with Washington are impossible as the latter is pressing ahead with its hostile policy and refuses to lift sanctions against the Islamic Republic.