Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei distanced himself from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal on Wednesday in comments published on his official website.
“WE REPEATEDLY GAVE FOREIGN MINISTERS NOTICE”
US President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran last year and reimposed sanctions, saying the accord did not address the Islamic Republic’s missile program and what he saw as their malign influence in the region.
“The way the nuclear deal was put into action, I didn’t have much faith in it,” Khamenei, who is the highest authority in Iran, said. “And we repeatedly told the president and the foreign minister and gave them notice.”
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have been the main advocates of the nuclear deal within Iran’s political system.
Two weeks ago, Iran notified the remaining signatories to the deal – China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom – that it would halt some commitments under the nuclear deal, a year after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord.