Iran leader lashes ‘silly’ Trump, says nuke deal over without European guarantee

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Tehran would quit the landmark 2015 nuclear deal unless European signatories offer solid guarantees that trade relations will continue after the US withdrawal, slamming President Donald Trump over the move.

Addressing Iran’s government in a televised speech, Khamenei said: “We hear that you want to continue the nuclear deal with the three European countries. I don’t have confidence in these three countries.”

“If you don’t succeed in obtaining a definitive guarantee — and I really doubt that you can — at that moment, we cannot continue like this,” he said. “If you want to conclude an agreement, obtain real guarantees, otherwise tomorrow they will do the same as the United States.”

“Their words have no value. Today they say one thing and tomorrow another. They have no shame,” he said.

He was speaking a day after Trump announced the US was withdrawing from the deal, which had curbed Iran’s atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The other parties — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — have opposed the move and indicated they wish to work with Tehran to preserve the accord.

In comments earlier in the day, Khamenei addressed the US president, saying, “You cannot do a damn thing!”

Khamenei described Trump’s speech Tuesday night as having “over 10 lies,” without elaborating. He also said Trump’s remarks, which he described as ‘silly and superficial,’ threatened Iran’s people and its theocratic government.

Khamenei said Iran’s government faced a big test to preserve “the dignity and the grandeur of the Iranian people.”

Despite his longstanding mistrust of the US, Khamenei supported the deal when it was signed, even saying it could be the basis for further negotiations. But he soon turned against the agreement when it became clear that many of its benefits were still being blocked by remaining US sanctions.

He said last year that it should be torn up if Washington pulled out.

Khamenei’s terse comments echoed the hardline view expressed by the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard earlier in the day.

General Mohammad Ali Jafari welcomed Trump’s decision to withdraw, saying it was clear from the beginning that the Americans were “not trustworthy” and insisting the move would have no impact.

The semi-official Fars news agency on Wednesday quoted Jafari as predicting that the European Union, which opposed the pullout, would eventually join the US, meaning the “the fate of the deal is clear.”

He was quoted as saying: “We welcome Trump’s decision on pulling out of the deal. This is not a new event and has no effective role in any field.” He added that “it was clear that the Americans are not trustworthy.”

The Revolutionary Guard is a paramilitary force dominated by hardliners, which answers directly to Khamenei.

The country’s hardliners and conservatives have long opposed the nuclear pact, and on Wednesday called again to scrap it.

“Trump has torn up the nuclear deal, it is time for us to burn it,” said the hardline Kayhan newspaper, echoing a recent threat by Khamenei.

Kayhan has been one of the fiercest critics of the agreement, under which Iran vowed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

But the country’s reformists are in favor of preserving the deal.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday slammed Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal as an act of “psychological warfare,” warning that his country could start enriching uranium more than ever in the coming weeks.

Rouhani has stated in recent days that he hopes to salvage the deal as much as possible with the help of the other parties — Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia, and the European Union — who have strongly opposed Washington’s decision to pull out.

State television said the decision was “illegal, illegitimate, and undermines international agreements,” Reuters reported.

Speaking live on state television, Rouhani said he wished to discuss Trump’s decision with the European, Russian, and Chinese parties to the 2015 deal. There’s a “short time” to negotiate, he said, adding that he will be sending Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to countries remaining in the accord.

“I have ordered Iran’s atomic organization that whenever it is needed, we will start enriching uranium more than before,” he said, adding that Iran would start this “in the next weeks.”