Iran has censured the US administration for planning to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, saying there will be anarchism if the White House keeps violating international regulations.
In a post on his official Twitter account on Friday, Abbas Mousavi, the Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said the US officials continue with their policies of unilateralism and exit from international agreements.
The American’s unilateralism & exit from Intl. agreements is still ongoing. In the past 3.5 years, the US Administration had kept breaching its Intl. obligations in entirety & challenging all Intl. norms, rules and laws which will definitely end up anarchism. #OpenSkiesTreaty
— S.A MOUSAVI (@SAMOUSAVI9) May 22, 2020
"In the past 3.5 years, the US Administration had kept breaching its Intl. obligations in entirety & challenging all Intl. norms, rules and laws which will definitely end up anarchism," the Iranian official stated.
The tweet came after President Donald Trump confirmed the United States will be exiting the treaty, the US administration’s latest move to pull the US out of a global agreement.
"Russia didn't adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere, we will pull out," Trump told reporters outside the White House Thursday, predicting that the US withdrawal would force Moscow back to the table.
"There's a chance we may make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together. I think what's going to happen is we're going to pull out and they're going to come back and want to make a deal," Trump said.
The Trump administration said Russia has repeatedly violated the pact’s terms. The 35-nation treaty allows its members to make surveillance flights as a trust-building practice.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the move could be a prelude to Washington also withdrawing from the New START Treaty, which limits the number of nuclear missiles the United States and Russia can deploy.
The Trump administration also pulled the United States out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia last year.
The 1992 treaty allows member countries to conduct short-notice, unarmed, reconnaissance flights over the other countries to collect data on their military forces and activities. It is the latest major arms control treaty that the US will abandon under the Trump administration.
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