Iran says can quit nuclear deal if US keeps adding sanctions

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned on Tuesday to exit the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers "within hours" if the US keeps on imposing new sanctions.

"If America wants to go back to the experience (of imposing sanctions), Iran would certainly return in a short time — not a week or a month but within hours — to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations," Rouhani told a session of parliament broadcast live on state television.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) addresses the parliament in Tehran on August 15, 2017. /AFP Photo

Iran says new US sanctions breach the agreement it reached in 2015 with the US, Russia, China and three European powers in which it agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions.

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July for their role in the development of a ballistic missile program after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.

In early August, US President Donald Trump signed into law new sanctions on Iran, Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The sanctions in that bill also target Iran's missile programs as well as human rights abuses.

The US imposed unilateral sanctions after saying Iran's ballistic missile tests violated a US resolution, which endorsed the nuclear deal and called upon Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such technology.

This file photo released by Iran's Defence Ministry on July 22, 2017 shows newly-upgraded Sayyad-3 air defense missiles on display during an inauguration of its production line at an undisclosed location in Iran, according to official information released. /AFP Photo‍

Iran denies its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons.

"The world has clearly seen that under Trump, America has ignored international agreements and, in addition to undermining the (nuclear deal), has broken its word on the Paris agreement and the Cuba accord...and that the United States is not a good partner or a reliable negotiator," Rouhani said.

Trump said last week he did not believe that Iran was living up to the spirit of the nuclear deal.

Iran’s parliament on Sunday approved more than half a billion dollars in funding for the country’s missile program and foreign operations of the elite Revolutionary Guards in response to the new US sanctions.

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Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency