Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi has criticized the opponents of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“See the realities on the ground; the question is ‘what should have we done to get the Americans to apologize and get the sanctions lifted?’” said Salehi in a recent address to a conference in Mashhad, northeastern Iran.
He dared the opponents of the JCPOA to answer the following question:
“Was the country my personal property? Could I decide about it personally and accept all the Americans’ demands? Such a way of thinking puts a question mark over the establishment. [People would ask:] Doesn’t this system have a guardian? Why should a person like me decide on it?”
“Let’s judge the JCPOA fairly, not ambitiously,” he said, according to a Farsi report by ISNA.
Salehi then touched upon US President Donald Trump’s anti-JCPOA rhetoric, and said such remarks are a nonstarter.
“We’ll be waiting for Trump to tear up the JCPOA, then we’ll see where we’ll get,” he underlined.
Trump had already said he would “tear up” the nuclear deal in an apparent act of defiance against the agreement.
