Speaking in a meeting of US Council of Foreign Relations on Monday, held via videoconference, he termed the United States as violator of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and added, “Iran has not hesitation in negotiating but will not renegotiate for what has already been negotiated.”
“Iran respects the international law. Iran respects JCPOA as an international deal inked between Iran and six world’s major powers and we have never attacked a country,” he added.
In response to a question on the US claim that Iran has waged cyberattacks against the United States, Zarif said, “It was the United States that deliberately launched a cyberattack on Iran to disable highly sensitive nuclear equipment. This endangered the lives of thousands of people. There are articles and documents about this.”
He then pointed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said, “JCPOA is still alive. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) showed that JCPOA is alive and the US is isolated in the international arena. If the United States wants to return to JCPOA by bullying, it must be said that era of bullying is dead.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the fate of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who waged a decade-long unequal war against Iran and added, “Look at Saddam Hussein and Iran, who is dead and who is alive.”
Asked if Iran was concerned about new US sanctions imposed against Iranian Ministry of Defense, Zarif said, “The sanctions imposed by US against Iran are nothing new.”
He further stressed that "rather, it is the US people should worry about because America has become the source of concern for the whole international community by violating international norms."
US has exerted maximum pressure on Iran, he said, adding, “They (US) thought that sanctions would bring Iranians to their knees but this did not happen.”
Zarif also commented on the treason against the Palestinian nation by the normalization deal signed by the UAE and Bahrain and said "When talking about isolation, you should look at what happened in the UNSC to see which country has been isolated. As everybody knows, the UAE and Bahrain had already had relations with the occupying regime of Israel. So let's not make jokes."
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