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News > World

While West Debates Iran Deal, Rouhani Rejects Renegotiation

  • Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. | Photo: Reuters

Published 25 April 2018
Opinion

"We have an agreement called the JCPOA... It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full," President Rouhani said on Wednesday.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani rejected the idea that the Nuclear Deal could be rewritten, while the United States and France are in the process of discussing the deal after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to pull out of it.

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“We have an agreement called the JCPOA,” Rouhani said in a speech, referring to the nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). “It will either last or not. If the JCPOA stays, it stays in full.”

Trump has called the deal “ridiculous” and has threatened to walk out of it, while French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to negotiate.

Rouhani said Trump has “no expertise in politics, nor in law, nor in international accords... A tradesman, a businessman, a high-rise builder, how can he judge about global issues?”

All other parties to the agreement support its continuation and say that Iran has kept its commitments and fully complied. The European Union has emphasized that the deal must be adhered to.

Macron urged Trump to not abandon the deal on Wednesday, while reports emerged that Britain, France and Germany were attempting to put together a package to “persuade” Trump to remain. Macron said in a Tweet that “France will not leave the JCPOA because we signed it. We decided with President Donald Trump to work on a new comprehensive deal.”

It is unclear what Macron means by a “new comprehensive deal,” and if such a proposal would be rejected by Iran, who is adamant that the deal remain as it is.

Russia meanwhile has said that they don't think a redrafting of the deal would be possible. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a press conference: “We know that the nuclear deal was the meticulous work of a number of countries. Is it possible to repeat that work – that is a question... We do not know what is being talked about, we support the nuclear deal as it is today. We think that there are no alternatives.”

The deal was signed between Russia, China, Germany, Britain, France, the United States and Iran, placing restrictions prohibiting nuclear science by Iran in exchange for the lifting of U.S.-imposed sanctions.

Trump has frequently called the deal the “worst deal ever.”

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