Following the release and repatriation of a US citizen, Michael White, from Iran, and the release of Iranian national Dr. Majid Taheri, Trump wrote on his Twitter account on Friday, “Thank you Iran. Don’t wait until after the US election to make the Big deal. I’m going to win. You’ll make a better deal now!”
Reacting to the comment, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf tweeted a verse of the Holy Quran (Sura Muhammad [47:35]), the translation of which reads, “So do not weaken and call for peace while you are superior; and Allah is with you and will never deprive you of [the reward of] your deeds.”
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump took an illegal and unilateral decision to end Washington’s participation in the nuclear deal and re-impose the sanctions that the agreement had lifted, in defiance of the fact that the accord has been endorsed by the UN Security Council in the form of Resolution 2231.
Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is merely peaceful as also asserted by other signatories of the JCPOA.
Ever since withdrawing from the agreement, Washington has launched a so-called maximum pressure campaign against Tehran, seeking to pressure it with a growing list of widespread sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic.
Trump has been trying to bring Iran to the negotiation table for a new deal.
Iran, however, has reiterated that it will not enter into negotiations with the United States, unless Washington returns to the 2015 nuclear deal that it has unilaterally quit.
Following Trump’s Friday tweet, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it is up to Trump to decide when to redress his mistake of leaving the Iran nuclear deal signed between the Islamic Republic and major world powers.
MR/4941991