IRAN’S foreign minister has taken to YouTube to criticise Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal, saying Tehran will not “renegotiate or add on to” the atomic accord.
Mohammad Javad Zarif’s video, which was also posted to Trump’s favourite social media platform, Twitter, appeared to be taking his message to the masses after earlier speaking to news outlets across the US to defend the deal.
It comes after the US president signalled he will withdraw from the agreement by May 12 if it is not renegotiated and changed.
Those changes include proposals to limit Iran’s ballistic missile programme, which Tehran says it has as a defensive deterrent.
The five-minute video shows Zarif behind his desk. He offers background first about the deal before laying into Trump and criticising Europe for offering “the United States more concessions from our pocket”.
“On 11 occasions since, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran has implemented all of its obligations,” Zarif says in American-accented English. “In contrast, the US has consistently violated the agreement, especially by bullying others from doing business with Iran.
“Let me make it absolutely clear once and for all, we will neither outsource our security nor will we renegotiate or add on to a deal we have already implemented in good faith.”
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