Khamenei warns US presidential candidates nuclear deal is off, if terms are violated

Iran's supreme leader warns against any possible discussion of Agreement. Republican candidate Trump says it is "catastrophic" and should he win he will make it a “priority to dismantle it." Khamenei says the United States is not respecting its "commitments." Iranian foreign minister warns of "psychological legacies" of decades of sanctions.

 

Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned the presidential candidates in the United States against calling into question the nuclear agreement with his nation. Yesterday, on the sidelines of a meeting with officials from other countries, the Shiite religious leader stressed that "we have not violated the agreement on the nuclear issue," as opposed to the pretenders to the White House who "threaten to tear it up". If they "so desire," he warned, "we will burn it".

Recently, the Republican candidate in the US presidential election criticized the agreement with Tehran on the nuclear issue, calling it "catastrophic." Donald Trump also added that, in case of victory, one of his priorities will be precisely to dismantle it.

"The other party [the United States, ed] has yet to remove sanctions - said Khamenei - and the question concerning banking relationships has not been resolved yet [...]. We can not recover the oil revenues and other funds we have registered in other countries. " "Unlike us, the Americans - concludes the Supreme Leader – are not keeping many of their commitments."

After years of embargo, Iran obtained a partial easing of Western economic sanctions, in exchange for agreement on the controversial atomic program [for civilian use according to Tehran, to produce the bomb according to other countries - including Israel].

However, the US has kept a range of sanctions in place over Tehran's ballistic missile program, as well as the [armed] support of Shiite movements in the Middle East. Among these Hezbollah in Lebanon, the government in Damascus in Syria and Houthi "rebels" in Yemen.

European banks, which have branches in US territory, have been timid and have not yet fully promoted a revival of business and trade relations with Tehran for fear of legal proceedings across the ocean. Also recently Washington has blocked the use of the dollar in bank deals, effectively halting any new contracts established after the nuclear deal. Obstacles that, in fact, are favoring domestic fundamentalist faction in Iran and seriously threatening the reform program of the moderate President Hassan Rouhani.

This is why the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif yesterday called on the US to "do more" to encourage American and European banks to do business with the Islamic Republic. According to Tehran, the US government should clarify how and when it intends to remove the sanctions, by encouraging economic and commercial agreements with Iranian companies. "On paper, the United States has lifted all sanctions," said Zarif, but Washington should be more effective in erasing "the psychological legacy" left by decades of punitive measures.

• Iran United
• States nuclear
• deal Atomic economy Islam khamenei economy