Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs,said on Thursday that Iran will surely withdraw from the multilateral accord should the United States pull out of it.
"If the Americans attempt to violate the JCPOA, it is not clear whether the Islamic Republic will remain committed to its obligations and if theyexit, Iran will definitely leave it, too," he said, using an acronym for the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Velayati said if the European countries question the solidity of the JCPOA and reinstate sanctions against Iran, which wereliftedunder thenuclear pact,they will make the deal "ineffective" as far as Iran's interests are concerned.
He also emphasized that the agreement should be implemented inits written form because otherwise Tehran will beentitled to retaliate.
Velayati said it would still be unacceptablefor Iran if US President Donald Trump stuckto the deal at the cost of keeping sanctions in place, as demanded by the Europeans.
"This appeasement toTrump will practically makethe JCPOA impotent and Iran will not accept a JCPOA that is to itsdetriment," Velayati said.
He also defended Iran's "legitimate" presence in the region, saying, "Every country has the right to be present in its own region and the Western Asia is our region."
PressTV-Zarif: Iran will likely exit nuclear deal, if US does so
FM Zarif says by moving to reinstate sanctions against Iran, Trump will kill the deal, and hence Tehran will not feel obligated to abide by the agreement any longer.
Trumphas been a vociferous critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama. He has called the agreement the worst deal ever and eventhreatened to tear it up.
Back in January, Trump said he was extending the sanctions relief onIran for the last time, giving the European signatories aMay 12deadlineto fix what he claimed flaws in the agreement or he would refuse to waive those bans.
Iran insists there is no way it will renegotiatethe nuclear pact, which was endorsed by UN Security CouncilResolution 2231 in 2015.
