Iranian President Hassan Rouhani used an appearance on Sunday to warn President Trump against exiting the 2015 nuclear deal, saying that the U.S. would regret withdrawing from the pact.
Trump has until a May 12 deadline to decide whether to continue to lift economic sanctions on Iran. Rouhani said Iran is prepared to “resist any decision by Trump on the nuclear accord,” according to a Reuters report.
“Orders have been issued to our atomic energy organization … and to the economic sector to confront America’s plots against our country,” he said in a nationally televised speech.
Other international leaders are also urging Trump to stay in the agreement negotiated by former President Barack Obama. French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the U.S. last month and told Trump not to exit the Iran agreement, said a U.S. withdrawal from the accord could lead to war.
“We would open the Pandora’s box. There could be war,” Macron told a German weekly magazine. “I don’t think that Donald Trump wants war.”
Reuters reported that the Trump administration has not informed Israel as to whether the U.S. will remain in the pact, citing a senior Israeli intelligence official. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented information last week that he said shows Iran lied to international monitors about the scope of its nuclear weapons program before and after the signing of the 2015 nuclear agreement, though experts have questioned whether the speech actually presented any new details.
The Boston Globe reported on Friday that former-Secretary of State John Kerry is mounting a shadow campaign to keep the U.S. in the agreement.
