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Iran tells US to ‘stand by their commitments’
President Hassan Rouhani responded to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent comments, saying the US needs to “stand by their commitments”.
Iranian officials hit back after Pompeo said the US was “prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions”. Pompeo hinted last weekend at a slightly different US approach to Iran after having previously insisted that Iran comply with 12 demands before the US would lift sanctions or re-establish diplomatic and commercial ties. Pompeo said: “We’re ready to sit down with them, but the American effort to fundamentally reverse the malign activity of this Islamic Republic, this revolutionary force, is going to continue.”
In response, Rouhani said: “When they put aside the oppressive sanctions, when they stand by their commitments, when they themselves return to the negotiation table which they quit, the path for them is not closed, it is open.” He added that “respect within the framework of international laws” was necessary for talks.
Before Pompeo’s remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that Iran did not have a problem with US President Donald Trump, but rather with the US not sticking to its commitments.
The US unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018. The deal was signed between Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the EU in July 2015. Last month, on the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the deal, Iran announced it would cease complying with certain commitments in the agreement.