BICOM

Iran’s President has warned that if the US continues to impose additional sanctions, Iran could withdraw from the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Addressing the Iranian Parliament live on state television yesterday, President Hassan Rouhani said: “If America wants to go back to the experience (of imposing sanctions), Iran would certainly return in a short time – not a week or a month but within hours – to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations.” He added that “The world has clearly seen that under [US President Donald] Trump, America has ignored international agreements,” citing the Paris agreement on climate change.

Iran claims that sanctions recently imposed by the US violate the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement. In July, sanctions were placed on 18 Iranian individuals and organisations involved in Iran’s advanced ballistic missile programme. In August, the US imposed further sanctions on individuals involved in the missile program and human rights abuses.

On 27 July, Iran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit. Though the JCPOA agreement does not forbid Iran to test missiles, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 prohibits Iran from “any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology”.

In a related development, an Israeli surveillance satellite has discovered a factory being built in Syria to manufacture advanced Scud missiles. Israeli Channel 2 last night showed pictures taken by the EROS B satellite near the northern Syrian town of Baniyas. Construction of the factory, which has similar features and facilities to existing sites in Iran, could be completed by the end of the year.