Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed Tuesday that Iran would drop the nuclear deal “within hours” if the United States attempts to impose new sanctions on his country.
In a speech to parliament, Rouhani insisted that Iran wanted to remain committed to the nuclear deal, which he called a “model of victory for peace and diplomacy”—but warned that the deal was not the “only option.”
“If America wants to go back to the experience [of sanctions], Iran would certainly return in a short time—not a week or a month but within hours—to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations,” Rouhani said. “The world has clearly seen that under [President] Trump, America has ignored international agreements and, in addition to undermining the [nuclear deal], has broken its word on the Paris agreement and the Cuba accord.”
Rouhani’s remarks come days after President Trump said that Iran was “certainly not in the spirit of the agreement in compliance,” warning that “you’ll see some very strong things taking place if they don’t get themselves in compliance.” In late July, Trump reluctantly re-certified Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal on the recommendation of his staff. Two weeks ago, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he did not suspect he would certify Iran’s compliance again when it next comes up for review in October.
The president also signed a new sanctions bill this month targeting Iran, Russia, and North Korea, which directs Trump to sanction “Iran’s ballistic missile or weapons of mass destruction programs, the sale or transfer to Iran of military equipment or the provision of related technical or financial assistance, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated foreign persons.” Iran’s parliament voted unanimously last weekend to increase spending on the country’s ballistic missile program.
The White House had yet to respond to Rouhani’s rhetoric and could not be reached for comment Tuesday morning.
According to James Phillips, a Middle East expert at the Heritage Foundation, Rouhani’s speech was consistent with Iran’s effort to win a rhetorical war: convincing Europe that America is to blame if and when the Iran deal falls through.
“It’s unlikely that Iran would back out of the deal at this point, because that would give the Trump administration diplomatic ammunition to use against Iran that would resonate with Europeans,” Phillips told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “I think Rouhani’s statement is completely integrated into Iran’s strategy … trying to put the onus on President Trump for any further dissolution of the nuclear deal, appealing to the Europeans to try to stop Trump from trying to destroy the accord.”
Phillips also said that Rouhani’s threat underscores how flimsy the nuclear deal’s control on Iran’s capabilities really are.
“By making this threat, Rouhani has exposed some of the reasons why this nuclear deal is so unacceptable, and that’s the fact that Iran can shrug off the restrictions at a moment’s notice if it chooses to do so,” Phillips said. “And that shows that Iran’s concessions in negotiating the deal were temporary and easily reversible.”
