TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday said the country would no longer abide by the Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if the nuclear deal fell apart.
The protocol allows unannounced inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran agreed to implement it as part of the nuclear deal, without turning it into law.
"Without the nuclear agreement its application is meaningless,” Salehi told state television.
He also repeated his warning that Iran could very quickly return to the production of highly enriched uranium if the U.S. reimposed sanctions.
"If one day, the leaders of the country conclude that the nuclear agreement is no longer to the benefit of the country and decide to resume 20% enrichment we can do so within four days,” he said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech outlining an aggressive new strategy against Iran violated Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers.
Trump’s virulent speech contravened three articles of the 2015 deal, Zarif said in televised remarks broadcast late on Saturday.
They include the requirement to implement the accord "in good faith” and for the U.S. to "refrain from re-introducing or re-imposing” sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program.
"I have already written nine letters (to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini) listing the cases where the United States has failed to act on or delayed its commitments under the JCPOA,” Zarif said, using the technical name for the nuclear deal.
Mogherini helped negotiate the nuclear deal alongside the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.
Zarif said he would write a new letter regarding Trump’s speech last Friday, and warned of a "reciprocal measure” if sanctions were reimposed.
In his speech, Trump refused to "certify” the nuclear deal and warned he would "terminate” the deal unless Congress introduced tough new sanctions against Iran’s missile and nuclear programs, as well as its "destabilizing” activities in the Middle East.
Zarif responded by saying: "Our achievements in the field of ballistics are in no way negotiable.
"We live in a region into which hundreds of billions of dollars of lethal American weapons have poured, turning it into a gunpowder storehouse… so we have the right to have defensive means,” he said.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday the U.S. was trying to stay in the Iran nuclear deal while hoping to achieve more from it.
"We're going to stay in," Tillerson said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," though he left open the possibility that the U.S. could seek another agreement.
"We're going to work with our European partners and allies to see if we can't address these concerns," he added.
Tillerson said the U.S. was working to address issues it had with the multilateral agreement and anticipated that might require a new deal.
"Let's see if we cannot address the flaws in the agreement by staying within the agreement, working with the other signatories, working with our European friends and allies within the agreement," Tillerson said. "But that, as I said, may come in a secondary agreement as well."
Britain and Germany agreed on Sunday they remained committed to the nuclear deal with Iran, a spokeswoman said after a call between Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"They agreed the UK and Germany both remained firmly committed to the deal," the spokeswoman said in a statement.
"They also agreed the international community needed to continue to come together to push back against Iran's destabilizing regional activity, and to explore ways of addressing concerns about Iran's ballistic missile program."
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the United States for the time being will stay in an international nuclear deal with Iran, adding that the Trump administration wanted to weigh a "proportionate" response to Tehran's actions on the world stage.
"I think right now, you're going to see us stay in the deal. Because what our hope is that we can improve the situation. And that's the goal," Haley said.