Iran president says US failed to undermine nuke deal, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Iran president says US failed to undermine nuke deal

This article is more than 12 months old

ANKARA Iran's president said yesterday the US had failed to undermine a nuclear deal between Teheran and major powers, and hailed the accord as a "long-lasting victory" for Iran, state television reported.

US President Donald Trump on Friday delivered an ultimatum to European signatories of the deal to fix the "terrible flaws" of the agreement with Iran, or the US would pull out.

"The American administration has failed to undermine the nuclear deal... Trump, despite his repeated efforts, has failed to undermine the accord... The deal is a long-lasting victory for Iran," President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV.

On Friday, Mr Trump agreed to waive sanctions against Iran for the last time to give the US and European allies a final chance to amend the pact.

Iran says the nuclear deal is not renegotiable and it will stick to the accord as long as the other signatories respect it but will "shred" the deal if Washington pulls out.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme, in exchange for lifting of most sanctions.

In a separate development, Iran lifted restrictions imposed during recent protests on the country's most popular social media app Telegram.

AFP journalists were able to access the service yesterday and officials confirmed it has been restored.

"The information concerning the end of filtering on Telegram is correct," a spokesman for the telecoms ministry told AFP.

Telegram, which counts some 25 million users in Iran, was blocked on mobile phones during the five days of unrest that hit dozens of cities over the new year.

The semi-official ISNA news agency said the restrictions on Telegram had been "entirely lifted under orders of (President Hassan Rouhani)".

The government accused "counter-revolutionaries" and foreign groups of inciting violence via social media during the unrest, and also temporarily cut mobile access to photo sharing app Instagram.- REUTERS, AFP

WORLD