Iran threatens USA over potential exit from nuclear deal

President Hassan Rouhani says Iran has prepared plans to respond to any decision by US President Donald Trump to end the nuclear agreement with Tehran and that the US would regret such a decision.

Trump has said unless European allies rectify “flaws” in Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers by May 12 he will refuse to extend US sanctions relief for Iran.

“We have plans to resist any decision by Trump on the nuclear accord,” Rouhani said in a speech carried live by state television on Sunday.

“Orders have been issued to our atomic energy organisation … and to the economic sector to confront America’s plots against our country,” Rouhani told a rally in northeast Iran.

“America is making a mistake if it leaves the nuclear accord,” Rouhani said.

Britain, France and Germany remain committed to the nuclear accord but, in an effort to keep Washington in it, want to open talks on Iran’s ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 – when key provisions of the deal expire – and its role in Middle East crises such as Syria and Yemen.

Read the article in The Australian (subscription required).