Parliament Speaker:

Trump Not Trustworthy for Talks After Quitting JCPOA

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf in reaction to a Twitter message by US president Donald Trump on talks with Iran said Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the international nuclear deal with Tehran showed that resistance is the only way to deal with Washington.

News ID: 81256

Date: 06 June 2020 - 15:02

"So do not weaken and call for peace while you are superior; and Allah is with you and will never deprive you of [the reward of] your deeds," Qalibaf tweeted a verse of the Holy Quran while reacting to Trump's offer for talks.

Following the release and repatriation of a US citizen, Michael White, from Iran, and the release of Iranian national Majid Taheri, Trump wrote on his Twitter account on Friday, “Thank you Iran. Don’t wait until after the US election to make the Big deal. I’m going to win. You’ll make a better deal now!”

In relevant remarks on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi announced that Michael White, who was jailed in Iran on security charges, was released on Thursday, adding that this is the sign of Islamic kindness.

Mousavi said that White left Iran on Thursday.

He said that after coronavirus spread, according to the Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi’s order, White was given furlough, but since he had no relative in Iran, he was handed over to the Swiss Embassy representing the US interests section in Iran.

He was thoroughly examined for COVID-19 symptoms and, after getting negative diagnosis, the freedom verdict was put into effect.

Meanwhile, Iranian scientist Sirous Asgari, who was illegally imprisoned in the US, arrived in Iran on Wednesday.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister in an Instagram message had announced that a plane carrying the country's scientist who was illegally jailed in the US was heading towards Tehran.

Asgari, a 59-year-old professor of materials engineering who was acquitted in November 2019 on charges of stealing trade secrets related to his academic activities at Ohio State University, was arrested by the US Immigration Service for revoking his visa.

"Hello friends, good news, the plane carrying Dr. Sirous Asgari flew from America," Zarif wrote on his Instagram page.

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump took an illegal and unilateral decision to end Washington’s participation in the nuclear deal and re-impose the sanctions that the agreement had lifted, in defiance of the fact that the accord has been endorsed by the UN Security Council in the form of Resolution 2231.

Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is merely peaceful as also asserted by other signatories of the JCPOA.

Ever since withdrawing from the agreement, Washington has launched a so-called maximum pressure campaign against Tehran, seeking to pressure it with a growing list of widespread sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic.

Trump has been trying to bring Iran to the negotiation table for a new deal.

Iran, however, has reiterated that it will not enter into negotiations with the United States, unless Washington returns to the 2015 nuclear deal that it has unilaterally quit.

Following Trump’s Friday tweet, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it is up to Trump to decide when to redress his mistake of leaving the Iran nuclear deal signed between the Islamic Republic and major world powers.

Message end/