Hostile stance on JCPOA exposed US lies about Iran: Qassemi

Iran has rejected the hostile accusations leveled by US Vice President Mike Pence against the Islamic Republic, saying Washington’s stance on the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal exposed its lies about Tehran seeking nuclear weapons.

Pence told the Israeli parliament on Monday that the nuclear deal with Iran was a “disaster,” and that “the United States of America will no longer certify this ill-conceived agreement,” officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The US official also accused the Iranian government of pursuing “a clandestine nuclear program,” trying to “dominate the wider Arab world,” and sowing chaos across the region.

In response, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi gave a list of Washington’s malicious and unfair measures against the Islamic Republic over the past decades ranging from support for the use of chemical attacks against civilians to the imposition of brutal sanctions against the nation.

Among Washington’s belligerent anti-Iran moves, he said, was its backing for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in his 1980-88 war against Iran, during which he used chemical arms against people in some Iranian cities, as well as the 1988 downing of an Iranian passenger jet by a guided-missile cruiser in the Persian Gulf waters.

Qassemi recalled that even more recently, the US called Iranians a “terrorist nation” and that Washington has been seeking to undermine the 2015 nuclear deal by reneging on its commitments and depriving the Iranian nation of the right to collect the JCPOA dividends.

“Contrary to this American official’s deceptive words and exaggeration, the Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought and will never be seeking nuclear weapons,” he said.

Qassemi highlighted the White House’s confrontational position on the nuclear deal, saying this “accurately and truly exposes the lies the US has for years been selling to other countries and to the world public opinion.”

Pence must have come to the realization that Iran’s crucial support for Iraq and Syria in their fight against terror effectively foiled the plots hatched by certain extra-regional countries and their regional allies against independent states.

“The relentless but futile efforts by US officials to create unreal threats in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East are merely aimed at keeping the region unstable in line with the Zionist regime’s ominous goals,” Qassemi said.

By destabilizing the region, he added, the Americans also seek to prevent convergence and unity among Muslim nations in the face of Israel.

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