US Unable to Achieve Goals against Iran: FM Zarif

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the United States has failed to achieve its goals following its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and is now waging a “psychological war” on Iran and its partners.

“Today, the Americans’ main focus is on a psychological war and they are doing the most work to exert psychological pressure on Iranians and our international partners,” he said in a live TV program on Sunday.

The Americans, he said, are trying to tell Iran’s partners “if you don’t want to come to the US, why you are doing business with the Iranians?”

 Back in May, President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite objections from other signatories.

Earlier this month, the US president signed an executive order, re-imposing the first round of sanctions on Iran, which had been lifted under the JCPOA. The second phase of US bans will come into effect in November.

Iran has lodged a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over Washington’s move to re-impose sanctions against Tehran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian foreign minister said the “illegal” US withdrawal from the JCPOA violated not only the deal but also the Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations signed by the two countries in 1955.

He said even close US allies and the countries that are not in good terms with Tehran, such as Canada, have stood against Washington regarding the JCPOA.

“From the time Trump announced pulling out of the nuclear deal, the Americans have not achieved any of their desired goals,” he said.

The top diplomat further reiterated that Iran does not trust the US and relies on its own people for security and progress.

Iran’s difference with other regional countries is that they are seeking security through buying arms or acquiring nuclear weapons, Zarif said.

Unlike them, “the Islamic Republic sees itself relying on its people in the fields of security and progress,” he added.

R.S