N-deal not to embrace other issues

In response to a question about Trump’s threats to rip JCPOA, Araghchi told Iranian State TV on Sat. " for a year since Mr. Trump came to power, he has extended the waivers and this shows his attempts have failed one after another.”

The deputy foreign minister said “there has been a diplomatic battle between us [Iran] and the United States,” adding in this diplomatic battle, Iran managed to separate the Europeans from the United States, and now all European countries, Russia and China confirmed that the deal cannot be negotiated again.”

Pointing out that the US allies did not accompany the US administration, Araghchi said "the European position [on JCPOA] was clear. Europeans have always declared that the nuclear deal is an international achievement, and if it is not respected, the world will not trust us [the West]."

Rejecting the allegations that the Europeans did not support Trump’s administration because of their economic interests, the deputy foreign minister said “it would be a big mistake to think that Europeans did that for their economic interests. The nuclear deal was a great achievement for their foreign policy.”

Araghchi added that following the implementation of the JCPOA, different sanctions on Iran have been lifted and Iran’s oil sale has returned to period before the sanctions.

"We carefully manage our relations with the Europeans, and we do not allow the nuclear deal to incorporate other issues." he said.

Regarding the US administration's move in imposing new sanctions on some Iranian persons and entities, the deputy foreign minister said "nobody has the right to re-impose any previous sanctions under any excuse,” calling Mr Trump's action “against international rules.”