Iranian President Blasts U.S. Effort to Change 2015 Nuclear Deal

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani rejected any U.S.-led effort to alter the 2015 nuclear agreement that President Donald Trump has labeled “the worst deal ever” and signaled he may walk away from, a move the Islamic Republic’s leader said would only damage U.S. credibility.

Iran “will not be the first country to violate the agreement, but it will respond decisively and resolutely to its violation by any party,” Rouhani told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. The deal “belongs to the international community in its entirety, and not to only one or two countries.”

In his inaugural speech to the U.N. Tuesday, Trump called the Iranian nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama “an embarrassment to the United States” that should be revisited. On Wednesday, he said “I have decided” whether the U.S. will continue to abide by the deal, but declined to elaborate. Trump has until Oct. 15 to certify Iran’s compliance with the accord to Congress, a decision he’s required to do every 90 days.

Germany and the five permanent Security Council members — China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. — negotiated the agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for removing some economic sanctions. Critics of the accord have focused on Iran’s continuing ballistic-missile program as well as sunset provisions in the deal that, starting in 2025, ease restrictions on uranium enrichment. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will take part in a meeting of foreign ministers from nations that reached the deal, including Iran, on Wednesday afternoon in New York. Rouhani said Trump’s U.N. address was “ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric, filled with ridiculously baseless allegations.” He defended Iran’s ballistic-missile program as a defensive measure by a nation surrounded by enemies in the volatile Middle East. And he slammed Trump’s lack of political experience in challenging the accord. “It will be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by ‘rogue’ newcomers to the world of politics,” Rouhani said. “The world will have lost a great opportunity.”