Iranian President Hassan Rouhani boasted that Tehran could increase uranium enrichment without provoking Western powers to shred the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, despite European complaints that the regime has violated the pact.
Iran is enriching “more uranium every day than before the conclusion of the nuclear deal,” Rouhani said on Thursday, as reported by state-run media. “Had Iran pulled out from the deal, the U.N. sanctions against us would’ve been back. This would’ve played into U.S. President Donald Trump’s hands.”
United States and European allies are divided over the value of the Iran deal in a disagreement that has persisted even after President Trump exited the accord and renewed economic sanctions. Western European countries have worked to convince Iran to remain within the deal despite Trump’s policy shift, but Rouhani’s public celebration suggests that the regime has been eager to keep the Europeans on board.
“They’re finally telling us the truth of what their strategy is and what it’s been all along, and that is to hold on as long as they can inside of the deal,” a former senior administration official told the Washington Examiner. “This should be a wake-up call.”
Rouhani aired the announcement just two days after the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, lodged a complaint that Tehran is no longer complying with the deal. That finding begins a “dispute resolution” process that could end with the Europeans demanding the renewal, or “snapback,” of the United Nations Security Council sanctions that the 2015 nuclear deal superseded.
“They clearly feel confident the Europeans will protect them from a snapback,” a Republican congressional aide told the Washington Examiner.
China and Russia, who also are party to the Iran deal, have blamed the U.S. for undermining the nuclear agreement. They rebuked Western European governments for starting the dispute process.
“We don’t believe it will help solve any problem or ease any tensions,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said this week. “There are strong reasons behind Iran’s reduction of compliance. The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from this agreement … This is the root cause of the tensions on the Iranian nuclear issue.”
Trump urged European allies to abandon the nuclear deal the day after Tehran retaliated against the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani by firing ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.
“They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal, or JCPOA, and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place,” Trump said last week. “We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential.”
If the Europeans refuse to heed that call, Trump could face another choice to flout the transatlantic allies. State Department officials confirmed last month that “the United States can initiate the snapback process” at the U.N. Security Council.
“It’s going to be up to President Trump whether he wants to exercise the U.S. right to snap back at the Security Council, which is available to him legally, but it would be politically difficult amid European, Iranian, Chinese objections,” the former senior administration official said.
