Iran slams US’s ‘bullying behavior’ on nuclear deal

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - After the U.S. withdrawal, the Iran nuclear deal is coming to an end due to the "bullying behavior of the U.S.", Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday.

Speaking at a forum at Ankara-based Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE), Abbas Araghchi said Iran gave enough chances to the diplomacy on the deal but "enough is enough. Iran's patient is running out."

The U.S. withdrawal from the deal is a violation of UN Security Council resolution, he told the forum, themed "Iran, the region and International Developments."

Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew his country from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).

Shortly afterward, Washington re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran targeting the country’s energy and banking sectors.

Araghchi stressed that Iran had adhered to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA), commonly known as Iran nuclear deal.

"Even worse, the U.S. is calling other countries including other members of the Security Council to do the same and violate the Security Council resolution," Araghchi noted.

"People in Iran and in the region are losing their confidence to the engagement. The diplomacy and negotiation are losing the ground and the concept of resistance is gaining the ground due to the U.S. policy on the region," he said.

Speaking on the U.S. move to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, Araghchi said: "We normally have reciprocated by naming the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization.

"The two forces are facing each other in different places in the region, particularly in the Persian Gulf, he said, adding : "If anything happened, the responsibility will only be on shoulders of Americans."

On April 8, the U.S. administration designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps a "foreign terrorist group", in a move that marked the first time a government agency has been blacklisted as a terrorist body.

Also commenting on Turkey-Iran relations, the Iranian deputy foreign minister underlined that the two countries are close to each other more than any time in the past.

"The two countries have very similar positions regarding questions in our region and at the international level. Our bilateral relations is moving very good on mutual interest of both sides," he went on to say.

Meanwhile, touching upon the recent developments in Syria, he said the security in Syria has improved. “The terrorist elements and terrorist forces are mostly defeated in different areas thanks to Astana format in Kazakhstan where Turkey, Iran and Russia is working together,” Araghchi added.

The Astana process has been successful in bringing a cease-fire in Syria and led to the creation of de-escalation zones.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.