Iran’s Rouhani says US isolated in face of global support for JCPOA

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says US President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has isolated Washington as the majority of countries back the historic agreement.

“At the UN General Assembly, we witnessed that the great majority of world leaders endorsed the JCPOA as a diplomatic achievement, which means that the US has been left isolated,” Rouhani said at a new press conference on Wednesday.

He noted that he US decision to withdraw from the JCPOA was not agreed upon by other countries.

“Except for few countries, others regarded the measure as a political mistake,” he said.

Rouhani said that the US should either rectify its mistake or continue with this wrong process.

But the US will learn from its mistake sooner or later and will return to the deal, he noted.

The Iranian chief executive warned that the US’s measures were in the interests of neither its own people nor others.

Rouhani said that Iran was in contact with its fiends, including the EU, to find channels to keep economic transactions and to support foreign companies doing business in the country.

He once again said that Iran will remain in the deal as long as it reaps benefits from it.

Rouhani also pointed to a session of the Security Council chaired by Trump earlier Wednesday, where the leaders of Britain and France, among other attendees, backed the nuclear deal.  

“In today’s UN Security Council meeting, it was made clear that the US is alone. All countries in the Security Council backed the JCPOA and said directly or indirectly that the US measure was wrong,” he said.

Trump on Wednesday opened the UN Security Council meeting, which the US initially said would focus on Iran, but later broadened the agenda to include nuclear non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction.

PressTV-US chairs UN Security Council meeting, Iran on agenda

US President Donald Trump chairs the United Nations Security Council, one day after he urged the world to isolate Tehran.

During the meeting, Trump threatened that any individuals or entities that fail to comply with Iran sanctions will “face server consequences” and stressed that the US will ensure Iran will never get a nuclear bomb.  

He also said that the US will pursue tougher Iran sanctions, “tougher than ever before,” and defended re-imposing sanctions on Iran, citing its "malign conduct."  

Defying Trump, European leaders stood by the Iran nuclear deal at the UNSC meeting.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that sanctions and containment were not solutions to the Iranian issue.

He said that Iran has lived up to its commitments under the JCPOA, and so should other signatories to the deal.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also defended the JCPOA as an “important” achievement, and stressed that her country will be committed to preserving the agreement as long as Iran lives up to its commitments.

The UN Security Council meeting came one day after Trump used his address to the 73rd session of the General Assembly on Tuesday to attack Iran, and promised hard-hitting sanctions against Tehran while urging the world to isolate the Islamic Republic.

When he took the podium hours later, Rouhani responded to Trump’s anti-Iran remarks.

He accused the current US administration of violating the rules of international law by withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with six world powers, including the US.

He also emphasized that the US is pushing other countries to violate the Iran deal and that it is threatening all countries and international organizations with punishment if they comply with Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the JCPOA.

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