A top Iranian official said Tuesday that Tehran will won’t make any new concessions beyond what it agreed to under the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal and warned that the Islamic republic also won’t “remain passive” if Washington “starts a confrontation.”
The comments from Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani came just hours before President Trump is expected to announce whether he’s pulling America out of the Obama-era nuclear deal that gave Tehran major sanctions relief in exchange for limits to its nuclear program.
Mr. Trump must decide by May 12 whether to renew “waivers” that keep the current sanctions relief in place under the terms of the deal, which was also signed by Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.
The president has spent recent months pushing on the European signatories to work with him toward pressuring Iran into a renegotiated deal that would contain Tehran’s ongoing ballistic missile activities and extend certain limitations to its nuclear program beyond their current “sunset” date of 2025.
Iran’s government has expressed outrage at Mr. Trump’s moves. According to the Iranian state news service Fars, Mr. Shamkhani warned Tuesday that Washington’s pressure on Britain, France and Germany won’t lead to more concessions from Tehran.
He also predicted that Mr. Trump is likely to distance himself from his past position of pushing to fully destroy the nuclear deal. Regardless, “Iran will stand against this strategy firmly and will not accept any excessive demands to make new concessions,” Mr. Shamkhani said.
At the same time, he warned that “if the U.S. starts a confrontation against Iran, we will not certainly remain passive.”
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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