As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia both rushed to praise U.S. President Donald Trump for his widely denounced decision Friday to decertify the Iran nuclear accord, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ripped Trump's move in a television appearance and accused him of spreading "insults" and "a pile of delusional allegations."
Rouhani also said Trump is ignorant of history and geography, highlighted America's role in the 1953 overthrow of Iran's democratically elected government, and argued that Trump's move to undermine the nuclear accord will only further isolate the United States from the rest of the world.
Trump "apparently does not know that this is not a bilateral document between Iran and the US for him to act in any way he wishes," Rouhani said, highlighting the fact that the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia, and Germany are also party to the deal.
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Joining Rouhani in denouncing Trump's refusal to certify the nuclear accord—officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—were British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who in a joint statement released Friday said they are "concerned by the possible implications" of the U.S. president's decision.
The Iran nuclear agreement, the world leaders argued, "is in our shared national security interest" and was "the culmination of 13 years of diplomacy and...a major step towards ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program is not diverted for military purposes."
"The JCPOA was unanimously endorsed by the U.N. Security Council in Resolution 2231," the statement concluded. "The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly confirmed Iran's compliance with the JCPOA through its long-term verification and monitoring programme. Therefore, we encourage the U.S. administration and Congress to consider the implications to the security of the U.S. and its allies before taking any steps that might undermine the JCPOA, such as re-imposing sanctions on Iran lifted under the agreement."
