The statement comes after the United States deployed an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Persian Gulf last week in what White House National Security Adviser John Bolton described as an “unmistakable” message to Iran that any attack on US or allied interests would be met with “unrelenting force”.
Iran remains committed to its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the 2015 nuclear deal, in the face of the unilateral US pullout from the agreement last May, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday, calling the re-imposition of anti-Tehran sanctions “unacceptable”.
“We believe that escalation by the United States is unacceptable and uncalled for. We exercise maximum restraint in spite of the fact that the United States withdrew from [the] JCPOA last May”, Zarif said in Tokyo where he is holding talks with his Japanese counterpart.
In a Thursday interview with the Japanese broadcaster NHK, Iran's top diplomat said that US President Donald Trump was wrong to think that Tehran would soon return to the negotiating table.
France Has Not Beefed Up Patrols in Persian Gulf Amid Iran Tensions — Army Chief
The remarks by Zarif come shortly after Trump tweeted that he's convinced that Tehran “will want to talk soon” about its nuclear programme, and denied reports of the Pentagon's plans to deploy 120,000 American troops to the…
