TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday Iran could quit a treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons after the United States tightens sanctions.
"The Islamic Republic’s choices are numerous, and the country’s authorities are considering them ... and leaving NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) is one of them,” state broadcaster IRIB’s website quoted Zarif as saying.
Iran has threatened in the past to leave the NPT, as U.S. President Donald Trump moved to scrap the 2015 deal with world powers - the United States, Russia, China, Germany, Britain and France.
Iran has also threatened to pull out of the 2015 deal, officially known by its abbreviation as the JCPOA, unless European powers enable it to receive economic benefits.
The Europeans have said they would help companies do business with Iran as long as it abides by the deal, but Tehran has criticized what it sees as the slow pace of progress on a promised payment mechanism for Iran-Europe trade.
"The Europeans have had a year but unfortunately they have not taken any practical measures,” Zarif told IRIB.
Zarif said Iran has never welcomed sanctions over the past 40 years, but adopted measures to counter them.
"The JCPOA showed that sanctions could be removed through negotiations," the top Iranian diplomat said, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic has never violated its commitments, but it was the opposite side, particularly the Americans, who did not live up to their undertakings.
Zarif said the Islamic Republic has succeeded in resisting pressures by relying on its own nation, adding that despite the U.S. pressure, Iranians have reinforced their unity while the government is also duty-bound to ease pressures resulting from sanctions.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Zarif said Iran will do its utmost to export oil after the U.S. tightened its sanctions against the country, stressing that the Islamic Republic, which has been the target of cruel American bans for decades, has gained much experience in going around such restrictive measures.
"I mean there are always ways of going around the sanctions. We have a PhD in that area,” he said during his trip to New York.