Iran: US Allowing Criticism Of Nuclear Deal Violates Nuclear Deal

“We had hoped that eventually the Americans would begin jailing, torturing, even executing critics, just to show they are serious about this commitment.”

Tehran, August 20 – Diplomatic and political officials in Iran lambasted American foreign policy today and threatened to abandon the agreement that regulates the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program, asserting that the agreement includes a provision that bars the US government from permitting Americans to express opposition the deal.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif told Russian and Iranian media organizations Sunday morning that continued criticism of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA) concluded between the Obama administration and Iran, among others, in 2015, specifically prohibits the US government from tolerating objections by American citizens or media to the provisions of the agreement – and that the Trump administration has done nothing to prevent American groups or individuals from voicing such criticism. If the trend continues, threatened Zarif, Iran would renounce the deal and develop nuclear weapons without international monitoring.

“We and Secretary Kerry worked hard to hammer out this agreement, and are not about to let the successor administration violate it,” declared Zarif at an address broadcast on Russia Today and FARS, the official Iranian news agency. “The secretary knew we would never agree to the program and the way it guts the inspections and sanctions regime unless there were some way to guarantee it would never hamper our nuclear program. Kerry agreed to implement a censorship regime in the US, and to some degree succeeded with his echo chamber, but those enforcement efforts have petered out since Trump took office, and that is unacceptable.”

Zarif stressed that even Kerry and Obama’s echo chamber efforts by themselves were insufficient to the task of erasing criticism of Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, but that immediate total success was not expected. “It only became crucial that we say something at this stage, because the momentum was lost once the administration changed,” he explained. “We had hoped that eventually the Americans would begin jailing, torturing, even executing critics, just to show they are serious about this commitment, but in fact nothing of the sort has taken place, and we are concerned for the future and workability of the JCPOA.”

Other Iranian officials offered advice and assistance the US. “We know they’re not old hands as we are at this whole political repression thing,” observed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Reza Raqqis. That’s why we’re sending a fleet of ships to the Atlantic, to give the Americans some encouragement in that regard. But maybe we ought to go further, and actually send our repression experts to the US. Say what you want about American law enforcement violence, but they’ve got a long way to go before they can match our brutal efficiency.”

“Or is it our efficient brutality? I can’t decide,” he added.

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