WarSclerotic

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that the Islamic Republic will never renegotiate the nuclear agreement reached in 2015 with six world powers.

“The JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] is non-negotiable and cannot be rewritten,” Rouhani said in a press conference in Tehran.

“It is an international deal and has been approved by the U.N. Security Council. Therefore, it is meaningless to re-discuss it with anybody.”

Iran “will not be the first to drop the nuclear deal,” Rouhani said, adding that “we are happy that [U.S. President Donald] Trump has not been able to tear the deal after one year in office.”

Trump recently decided to extend a waiver on nuclear sanctions that were imposed on Iran. However, the waiver must legally be renewed periodically and Trump warned that when the next deadline arrives, he will not extend the waiver. He also urged European allies and Congress to work with him to fix “the disastrous flaws” in the 2015 pact, threatening to withdraw from the deal unless the flaws are corrected.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the Iran deal – one of predecessor Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievements – as the worst ever negotiated by the U.S.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Rouhani also rejected any negotiation over Iran’s ballistic missile program.

The Islamic republic has tested several ballistic missiles in recent months, raising the ire of the West.

Western countries say the tests are a violation of the U.N. resolution enshrining the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran denies it is in violation of any U.N. resolutions.

Rouhani said on Tuesday that Iranian missiles are a matter of the country’s defense and do not impose a threat upon any party.

Regarding Iran’s ties with the United States, Rouhani stressed that Tehran and Washington will not have relations unless the U.S. administration changes it policies toward the Islamic republic.