Top Security Official Shamkhani:
Iran Should Never Have Signed JCPOA
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- A top Iranian official says Tehran should never have signed the nuclear deal that has now been renounced by President Donald Trump.
In an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News, Ali Shamkhani said that there were people in Iran who felt that signing the 2015 nuclear pact, known as the JCPOA, was a mistake.
Asked by Holt if he was one of those people, Shamkhani said, "Yes. … I'm just following the viewpoints of my nation, the people of Iran."
Shamkhani is the military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and since 2013, has also been the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, making him Iran's top national security official. A former member of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, who once commanded Iran's naval forces, he previously served as minister of defense and mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Iran's presidency in 2001.
In his interview with Holt, who is anchoring "NBC Nightly News" from Tehran on Monday, Shamkhani denounced the U.S. as the aggressor and prime source of tension in the region and warned the U.S. to "act with wisdom." He said the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran would not bring Iran to heel or bring it back to the nuclear negotiating table.
"The sanctions campaign is not for negotiation, it's for making us surrender," said Shamkhani. "As long as this approach is taken by the United States, Iran will never ever seek negotiations."
In 2015, after nearly two years of talks, the Obama administration joined China, Russia and the European powers in signing the JCPOA deal with Iran, an agreement in which Iran accepted limits on its nuclear program. The Trump administration officially withdrew from the deal in 2018.
Shamkhani said: "We had a case of successful negotiations with the JCPOA. How come the United States departed from it?"
Shamkhani said the Iranian public has long dealt with Western sanctions and proof of the failure of Trump administration policy was obvious in the mood on the street.
"Just walk the streets of Tehran and see how energetic our people are and you will realize that what the U.S. has been trying to achieve has not materialized."
Shamkhani said Iran is a stabilizing force, whose "martyrs" sacrificed their lives and defeated terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
He said Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, since they are forbidden under Islam and have not provided security to those who have them, like the occupying regime of Israel.
Shamkhani also took a swipe at the Trump team's Israel policies and Trump adviser Jared Kushner's Middle East initiative. "They declare Al-Quds as the capital of Israel. They pursue the 'deal of the century' project."
To the Iranians, said Shamkhani, Trump seems to want the same things as all his predecessors as U.S. president, which is to diminish Iran's influence. But Trump, said Shamkhani, managed to forfeit the "achievement" of "neutralizing Iranian nuclear technology" by gutting the JCPOA.
Iran, said Shamkhani, is not basing its decisions on U.S. policy on who is president, or on the possibility that Trump will not serve a second term. But he said that he thinks Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign is failing because the U.S. public and Western allies are "questioning" his leadership.
Trump's recent decision allegedly not to attack Iran after the downing of a U.S. drone, said Shamkhani, was driven by a "calculation of cost and benefits."
Should the U.S. and Iran become engaged in an open military conflict, Shamkhani told Holt, Iran has "multiple instruments at hand”.
Both the U.S. and its regional allies would be in "a terrible situation" in the event of war, said Shamkhani.
"There is no doubt that the already tarnished image of the United States will be even further destroyed in the region and the whole world. Why do they basically threaten to launch a war against us?"
Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif on Monday said Iran is not interested in talks with Washington, but any mediation should focus on bringing the United States back to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Zarif was speaking in Finland after meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto, who said Europe was doing its best to salvage the deal.
In an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News, Ali Shamkhani said that there were people in Iran who felt that signing the 2015 nuclear pact, known as the JCPOA, was a mistake.
Asked by Holt if he was one of those people, Shamkhani said, "Yes. … I'm just following the viewpoints of my nation, the people of Iran."
Shamkhani is the military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and since 2013, has also been the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, making him Iran's top national security official. A former member of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, who once commanded Iran's naval forces, he previously served as minister of defense and mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Iran's presidency in 2001.
In his interview with Holt, who is anchoring "NBC Nightly News" from Tehran on Monday, Shamkhani denounced the U.S. as the aggressor and prime source of tension in the region and warned the U.S. to "act with wisdom." He said the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran would not bring Iran to heel or bring it back to the nuclear negotiating table.
"The sanctions campaign is not for negotiation, it's for making us surrender," said Shamkhani. "As long as this approach is taken by the United States, Iran will never ever seek negotiations."
In 2015, after nearly two years of talks, the Obama administration joined China, Russia and the European powers in signing the JCPOA deal with Iran, an agreement in which Iran accepted limits on its nuclear program. The Trump administration officially withdrew from the deal in 2018.
Shamkhani said: "We had a case of successful negotiations with the JCPOA. How come the United States departed from it?"
Shamkhani said the Iranian public has long dealt with Western sanctions and proof of the failure of Trump administration policy was obvious in the mood on the street.
"Just walk the streets of Tehran and see how energetic our people are and you will realize that what the U.S. has been trying to achieve has not materialized."
Shamkhani said Iran is a stabilizing force, whose "martyrs" sacrificed their lives and defeated terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
He said Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons, since they are forbidden under Islam and have not provided security to those who have them, like the occupying regime of Israel.
Shamkhani also took a swipe at the Trump team's Israel policies and Trump adviser Jared Kushner's Middle East initiative. "They declare Al-Quds as the capital of Israel. They pursue the 'deal of the century' project."
To the Iranians, said Shamkhani, Trump seems to want the same things as all his predecessors as U.S. president, which is to diminish Iran's influence. But Trump, said Shamkhani, managed to forfeit the "achievement" of "neutralizing Iranian nuclear technology" by gutting the JCPOA.
Iran, said Shamkhani, is not basing its decisions on U.S. policy on who is president, or on the possibility that Trump will not serve a second term. But he said that he thinks Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign is failing because the U.S. public and Western allies are "questioning" his leadership.
Trump's recent decision allegedly not to attack Iran after the downing of a U.S. drone, said Shamkhani, was driven by a "calculation of cost and benefits."
Should the U.S. and Iran become engaged in an open military conflict, Shamkhani told Holt, Iran has "multiple instruments at hand”.
Both the U.S. and its regional allies would be in "a terrible situation" in the event of war, said Shamkhani.
"There is no doubt that the already tarnished image of the United States will be even further destroyed in the region and the whole world. Why do they basically threaten to launch a war against us?"
Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif on Monday said Iran is not interested in talks with Washington, but any mediation should focus on bringing the United States back to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Zarif was speaking in Finland after meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto, who said Europe was doing its best to salvage the deal.