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Iranian official says changes to nuclear deal 'will not be accepted'
(WebFG News) - A senior Iranian official has warned that the country will not accept any changes to the current seven party nuclear deal which US President Donald Trump is considering binning.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's highest authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said: "Any change or amendment to the current deal will not be accepted by Iran [...] If Trump exits the deal, Iran will surely pull out of it [...] Iran will not accept a nuclear deal with no benefits for us."
The warning appears to scupper the attempts of Western signatories who have been desperately urging Trump to stick to the deal, which he has branded as "insane", which aims to prevent the Middle Eastern state from acquiring nuclear weapons.
President Macron of France, the man at the forefront of these attempts courtesy of his three day visit to Washington this week, did not seem optimistic that Trump would back down.
"My view is [...] that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons," said Macron.
Macron's proposed amendments would have seen Europe and the US block Iranian nuclear activity to 2025 and beyond, address the Iranian missile programme and work to identify a political solution for Iran's involvement in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.
Velayati, however, dismissed the idea of submitting to western demands for Iran to curb its influence in the Middle East.
"This is our region. We are in our own region and it is legitimate," said Velayati.