According to Reuters, Trump made the claims at a Cabinet meeting in the White House early on Tuesday. He did not give details about his claims, but US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed at the meeting Iran had said it was prepared to negotiate about its missile program. The US secretary of state made the claim while Tehran has strongly ruled out any possibility of talks on its defensive missile program.
According to other media, the US president also called on Iran to pull out of Yemen, while Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement in the war-stricken Arab country. On the contrary, Iran has always supported political dialogue between warring sides as a the solution to end the crisis.
The news comes hours after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei said on Tuesday that Iran will definitely keep reducing reductions in its JCPOA-related commitments.
On 8 May, the anniversary of the US illegal withdrawal from the nuclear deal (JCPOA), Iran announced that it was partially discontinuing its obligations under the JCPOA and urged nuclear deal signatories – China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom – to shield Tehran from Washington's sanctions.
Iran has already implemented the first and second phases of its actions in reducing its JCPOA commitments by increasing the stockpile of enriched uranium above the 300kg outlined by the JCPOA and has increased the level of uranium enrichment above the 3.67% level. It has warned that it will increase the enrichment level to 20% if the other parties continue to not abide by their commitments under the deal.
Furthermore, the spokesman of Iranian nuclear agency also said today that the uranium enrichment level which is currently standing at 4.5% could increase to 20% in the third phase of scaling back on JCPOA commitments.
Tehran says its countermeasures fit within its rights under paragraphs 26 and 36 of the nuclear deal, and that it will reverse the measures once its demands are met.
KI/PR