UN ambassador:

US provocations aimed at demonizing Iran

Rasa - Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo has condemned Washington’s latest accusations against Tehran regarding its nuclear deal as provocative measures aimed at creating Iranophobia.

News ID: 431796

Date: 19 August 2017 - 23:27

RNA - In a Friday statement, Khoshroo stressed that the August 15 statement by US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Iran “is devoid of any shred of truth.”

“The rhetoric and baseless accusations against Iran contained therein represent the latest examples of a series of provocative words, outright threats and irresponsible actions from some senior officials of the US administration in demonizing Iran and undermining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) inconsistent with the US commitments under paragraph 28 of the nuclear deal,” Khoshroo said.

Haley claimed Tuesday that Iran should not be allowed “to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage,” adding that the nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of countries must not become “too big to fail.”

The US envoy said Iran must be held responsible for its missile launches and repeated Washington’s accusations that Tehran supports terrorism and acts in breach of the UN resolutions.

Haley’s remarks followed a warning from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani against new US sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic. He said Tehran was capable of snapping back to pre-nuclear deal status if Washington persisted with its policy of sanctions and threats.

“The new US administration officials should know that the failed experience of threats and sanctions forced their predecessors to come to the negotiating table. If they prefer to return to those times, Iran will definitely return to a situation much more advanced than the start of the [nuclear] negotiations, not within months and weeks, but in a matter of hours and days,” the Iranian president said in a televised speech.

Rouhani underlined Iran’s commitment to the nuclear deal, adding that Tehran will follow up and respond to any breach of the agreement by other parties.

“Instead of distorting the recent remarks of President Rouhani, the US ambassador should heed the lessons of history and counsel some of the US administration officials to avoid repeating past mistakes,” Khoshroo said.

The nuclear deal, which was reached between Iran and world powers in 2015, puts limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related bans against the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian diplomat also denounced the US military interventions in the Middle East as a key destabilizing factor that fuels extremism and terrorism in the region, noting, “The hard-line and parochial positions adopted by certain senior US officials against Iran could further exacerbate instability in the region.”

Khoshroo referred to Iran’s assistance to Iraq and Syria in eradicating Daesh Takfiri terrorists and Tehran’s “stabilizing” role in the region, and underlined the country's determination “to seek a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Middle East free from extremism, terrorism, extra-regional interventions and weapons of mass destruction.”

“Iran stands ready to continue cooperation with regional states to achieve the shared goals and to address the existing regional challenges,” The Iranian envoy pointed out.

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