Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday the United States had failed to undermine a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, and he hailed the accord as a “long-lasting victory” for Iran.
US President Donald Trump on Friday delivered an ultimatum to European signatories of the deal to fix the “terrible flaws” of the agreement with Iran, or the United States would pull out.
“The US administration has failed to undermine the nuclear deal ... Trump, despite his repeated efforts, has failed to undermine the accord ... The deal is a long-lasting victory for Iran,” Rouhani said in a speech, according to Reuters.
Rouhani added that "any government will also lose its balance if it ignores or changes the agreements reached by previous governments, especially if they are recognized internationally,” pointing out that the international reactions to Trump’s statements proved that.
Trump agreed to waive sanctions against Iran for the last time to give the United States and European allies a final chance to amend the pact.
Iran says the nuclear deal is not renegotiable and it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out.
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, for his part, stressed on Sunday that Iran’s Shura Council will not accept any changes in the structure of the nuclear agreement, saying in an open parliament session that Trump’s push for changes means he is tampering with the whole deal.
Criticizing Washington's excessive demands, Larijani said the US sanctions against people and countries bring prestige and glory to them.
On the other hand, Iran's Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said that Iranian authorities have arrested a dual national who was taking pictures during recent unrest as security forces sought to contain the most widespread protests in the country since 2009.
“As far as I was able to find out, we had a dual national arrested and this person had been taking pictures and filming,” Ejei told a weekly news conference, according to the semi-official news agency Fars.
In early January, an Iranian judicial official said a European citizen had been arrested in anti-government protests in Borujerd county, western Iran, but did not specify the nationality of the detainee.
The official accused the unnamed detainee of having been “trained by European intelligence services ... leading the rioters,” according to Reuters.
