In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency Saturday, the Foreign Ministry says Iran “will not accept any change in the deal, neither now nor in future,” adding that it will “not take any action beyond its commitments.”

On Friday Trump extended the waivers of key economic sanctions that were lifted under the agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program. But he said he would work with European allies to remove so-called “sunset clauses” that allow Iran to gradually resume advanced nuclear activities in the next decade. </s> Iran has said it will not accept any changes to its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after US president Donald Trump vowed to pull out of the accord if European allies do not fix its “terrible flaws”.

The Iranian foreign ministry said it “will not accept any change in the deal, neither now nor in future”, adding that it will “not take any action beyond its commitments”.

On Friday, Mr Trump extended the waivers of key economic sanctions that were lifted under the agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear programme.

However, he said he would work with European allies to remove so-called “sunset clauses” that allow Iran to gradually resume advanced nuclear activities in the next decade. </s> The Iranian foreign ministry said it "will not accept any change in the deal, neither now nor in future", adding that it will "not take any action beyond its commitments".

On Friday, Mr Trump extended the waivers of key economic sanctions that were lifted under the agreement limiting Iran's nuclear programme.

However, he said he would work with European allies to remove so-called "sunset clauses" that allow Iran to gradually resume advanced nuclear activities in the next decade. </s> US demands wholesale changes in Iran policies post-nuke deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday demanded that Iran make wholesale changes in its military and regional policies or face "the strongest sanctions in history," as it sought to turn up heat on Tehran after President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal.

In speech that called Iran out for a wide range of "malign activities" apart from its nuclear program, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for the negotiation of a new deal that would go far beyond the single focus of the 2015 agreement and would have the status of a formal treaty. The 2015 deal concluded under the Obama administration dealt only with the nuclear program and was not a treaty but rather a U.N.-endorsed executive agreement between the parties.

Unless such a treaty can be reached, Pompeo warned that Iran would face tough sanctions that would leave it "battling to keep its economy alive." But he laid out no strategy for convincing Iran, the other participants in the original deal — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union — or others to open such a negotiation.

"These will end up being the strongest sanctions in history by the time we are complete," Pompeo said at the conservative Heritage Foundation in his first major policy speech since taking over as top diplomat.

Pompeo vowed Trump's approach would ensure Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon. A new pact should require that Iran stop enrichment of uranium, which was allowed within strict limitations under the previous deal. Iran would also have to walk away from core pillars of its foreign policy, including its involvement in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Afghanistan, he said.

"This list may seem long to some, but it is simply a reflection of the massive scope of Iranian malign behavior," Pompeo said. "America did not create this need for changed behavior. Iran did."

In response, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described Pompeo's speech as unacceptable and took issue with the fact that the secretary of state previously led the CIA, long demonized in Iran for its role in a 1953 coup.

"A guy who had been active in an espionage center for years now wants to make a decision for Iran and other countries from the position of a foreign minister. It is not acceptable under any circumstance," Rouhani said to a group of university teachers in Tehran. "Who are you to make a decision for Iran and the world and to tell Iran what to do and what not to do in the nuclear field?"

Pompeo did offer Iran a series of dramatic potential U.S. concessions if it agrees to make "major changes." Under a new agreement, the U.S. would be willing to lift all sanctions, restore full diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran and even support the modernization of its economy, Pompeo said.

"It is America's hope that our labors toward peace and security will bear fruit for the long-suffering people of Iran," Pompeo said.

Still, Pompeo's list of 12 requirements included many that Iran is highly unlikely to consider. He said Iran must allow nuclear inspectors "unqualified access to all sites throughout the country," Pompeo said, alluding to military sites that were off-limits under the 2015 deal except under specific circumstances. To that end, he also said Iran must declare all previous efforts to build a nuclear weapon, reopening an issue that the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency has already deemed a closed matter.

Pompeo also demanded that Iran cease from a range of activities throughout the Middle East that have long drawn the ire of the U.S. and its allies. He said Iran must end support for Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen, "withdraw all forces" from Syria, halt support for its ally Hezbollah and stop threatening Israel.

Iran must also "release all U.S. citizens" missing in Iran or being held on "spurious charges," he said.

Taken together, the demands would require a complete transformation by Iran's government, and they hardened the perception that the administration is really seeking regime change. A longtime Iran hawk, Pompeo has spoken positively about regime change in the past, but in his confirmation hearing last month he sought to soften that stance.

Laying out Trump's new approach Monday, Pompeo said he couldn't put a timeline on how long the strategy might take.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, speaking to reporters in Argentina, said he believed packaging all of Iran's concerning behavior into one agreement would be a heavy lift.

"If you try to pull all of those into a giant negotiation, a new jumbo Iran negotiation, a new treaty . I don't see that being very easy to achieve in anything like a reasonable timescale," he said. "The idea of a jumbo Iran treaty (is) very difficult."

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogerhini said in a statement that Pompeo had not shown how resolving any of Iran's problematic non-nuclear activities would be easier done outside of the deal, which is known as the JCPOA, the acronym for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

"Secretary Pompeo's speech has not demonstrated how walking away from the JCPOA has made or will make the region safer from the threat of nuclear proliferation or how it puts us in a better position to influence Iran's conduct in areas outside the scope of the JCPOA," she said. "There is no alternative to the JCPOA."

Pompeo said he understood that Trump's decision "will pose financial and economic difficulties for a number of our friends." But he warned them that the U.S. planned to follow through with threats to punish European companies that continue doing business with Iran that is allowed under the deal but will violate reimposed U.S. sanctions.

"I know our allies in Europe may try to keep the old nuclear deal going with Tehran. That is their decision to make," Pompeo said. "They know where we stand."

Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Matthew Pennington in Washington; and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Matthew Lee at www://twitter.com/APDiploWriter </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Monday that he will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss Washington's position on the nuclear deal with Iran.

The Trump administration on Monday demanded that Iran make wholesale changes in its military and regional policies or face "the strongest sanctions in history."

The comments came as Washington tries to increase pressure on Tehran after President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the international nuclear deal.

"I will travel on to Washington and meet Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, and use the opportunity to talk to him directly about this," Maas said when he was asked by reporter about the Iran deal at the end of a Group of 20 meeting in Argentina's capital.

In a speech Monday, Pompeo called Iran out for a wide range of "malign activities" apart from its nuclear program and demanded the negotiation of a new deal that goes far beyond the single focus of the 2015 agreement and that would have the status of a formal treaty.

The 2015 deal concluded under the Obama administration dealt only with the nuclear program and was not a treaty but rather a U.N.-endorsed executive agreement between the parties.

Maas said Germany was not surprised by Pompeo's speech because it "contained many elements" of the statement issued by Trump.

"Iran is in our wider neighborhood, and since we don't see any better alternative at present, this is why we don't want to leave the deal," Haas said. "We don't want Iran to engage in a nuclear weapons program. This affects immediate security interests of Germany and security interests of Europe."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took to Twitter on Monday to criticize Pompeo's speech, calling U.S. diplomacy a "sham" that is "imprisoned by delusions & failed policies." </s> TEHRAN, IRAN—Iran said Saturday it won’t accept any changes to its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to pull out of the accord in a few months if European allies did not fix its “terrible flaws.”

In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, the Foreign Ministry said Iran “will not accept any change in the deal, neither now nor in future,” adding that it will “not take any action beyond its commitments.”

It also said Iran would not allow the deal to be linked to other issues, after Trump suggested that the sanctions relief under the deal be tied to Iran limiting its long-range ballistic missile program.

Opinion | Tony Burman: The Canadian case for building bridges with Iran </s> "The hostile and illegitimate actions of Trump's regime to include Larijani in the sanctions list… have crossed all red lines for behavior in the international community and represent a violation of international law and both bilateral and international US commitments, to which Iran will respond with a serious answer," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, noting that Washington's decision only demonstrated the ongoing American hostility toward Iranians.

The ministry has once again reiterated the country's position on the issue, opposing the US move concerning the Iran nuclear deal.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran stresses clearly that it will take no measures beyond its commitments under the JCPOA and will accept no changes to this agreement now or in the future and will not allow that the JCPOA be linked to any other issue [than the nuclear issue]," the statement read.

Iran's Foreign Ministry, sending a strong message to the US, has named those, whom they consider to be behind the attempt to undermine the deal, which took years and great diplomatic efforts to reach.

"The internal solidity of and international support for the agreement have blocked attempts by Mr. Trump, the Zionist regime [of Israel], and the ominous alliance of hard-line warmongers to terminate this agreement or make changes to it," the ministry said.

READ MORE: US Likely Took Course to Demolish Iran Nuclear Deal — Russia's Deputy FM

The tough stance was voiced a day after US President Donald Trump announced his decision to suspend restrictions on Iran for another 120 days to remain in the deal so that the United States and Europe could fix "significant flaws" in it. Simultaneously, Washington imposed separate sanctions on a dozen Iranian individuals, including Iran's Chief of Judiciary Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, and entities, related to the country's ballistic missile program.

READ MORE: Trump Decides to Extend Iran Sanctions Waiver, But for the Last Time — WH

The decision is in line with a position Trump has been voicing in relation to the Islamic Republic since his election campaign. When he became the US president, Trump officially reiterated his views concerning the country, refusing to re-certify the deal in late October 2017.

Despite all this criticism, Trump, however, does not contest Tehran's compliance with the deal at the international level, while at the same time not excluding the possibility of withdrawing from the deal if the agreement is not improved. Other JCPOA signatories have called on the United States to comply with the agreement's provisions, saying that the deal had yielded results and was non-negotiable.

The Iran deal, also known as the JCPOA, that was signed in July 2015 by Tehran and the P5+1 group of nations — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany, stipulates a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in exchange for the country maintaining peaceful nature of its nuclear program. </s> The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has lived up to its commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Press TV reported.

The United Nations nuclear agency confirmed Iran's compliance with the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in its latest quarterly report, the French news agency AFP said on Thursday.

According to the report, Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium did not exceed the agreed limit of 300 kilograms while its stock of heavy water remained below the ceiling of 130 tonnes after the country exported 19.1 tonnes.

The Islamic Republic "has not pursued the construction of the Arak ... reactor" and has not enriched uranium above low purity levels, it added.

The report comes at a time that Washington has stepped up its rhetoric and actions against the JCPOA.

Recent media reports indicate that administration of US President Donald Trump is actively seeking a pretext to potentially withdraw from the JCPOA.

Last week, the Trump administration sent US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to Vienna to lobby with the IAEA to request access to Iranian military sites as part of the deal, a move generally considered as an attempt at undermining the JCPOA.

Trump has also set up a team of his White House confidantes to present him with “options” other than certifying Iranian compliance with the deal to the Congress. Such certification is needed by US law every 90 days in order for the Congress to continue to withhold nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.

The White House has been further pressuring US intelligence officials to produce intelligence that could be used to declare Iran in violation of the nuclear agreement.

On the contrary, European officials have recently come out in support of the multilateral nuclear deal.

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said there was "no alternative" to the deal, noting, “It enables a constructive and demanding relationship with Iran.”

The European Union (EU)’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, also said the deal represented “the European way to foreign policy.”

The JCPOA was “a commitment undertaken by the entire international community on the one side and Iran on the other, supported by a resolution of the UN Security Council, and certified regularly by the International Atomic Energy Agency,” she pointed out.

 The JCPOA was inked between Iran and the P5+1 countries — namely the US, Russia, China, France, and Britain plus Germany — in July 2015 and took effect in January 2016.

Under the deal, limits were put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the removal of all nuclear-related bans imposed on the Islamic Republic, among other things. </s> The European Union hopes that Iran will keep respecting its commitments under the nuclear deal, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday in light of Tehran's plans to exceed limits on uranium enrichment and heavy water stockpiles set by the agreement

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2019) The European Union hopes that Iran will keep respecting its commitments under the nuclear deal, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday in light of Tehran 's plans to exceed limits on uranium enrichment and heavy water stockpiles set by the agreement

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said earlier in the day that Tehran would in the coming days exceed the 3.67 percent uranium enrichment limit and the 130 tonne heavy water stockpile limit that were established by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It at the same time added that there was still time for EU countries to act and protect Iran from US sanctions.

"So far Iran has been compliant with its nuclear commitments as we had expected it to be ... At the moment, Iran is still compliant and we strongly hope, encourage, expect that Iran continues to comply with its commitments in the JCPOA in full," Mogherini told journalists at a press conference in Luxembourg.

She also noted that all EU assessments regarding the Iran nuclear issue were based exclusively on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) reports.

"Our assessment on the implementation of the nuclear deal has never been, is not and will never be based on statements but on the evaluations that the IAEA makes, on the reports that the IAEA produces and that can be done in any time. We base our assessments, our judgments on facts, on the verification mechanism that are in place and that we trust," Mogherini said.

On May 8, Iran announced it would partially discontinue its obligations under the JCPOA. The decision came a year after US President Donald Trump announced it was withdrawing the United States from the nuclear agreement and re-imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Iran.

On the same day, Iran gave the other nuclear deal signatories China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom an ultimatum, saying it would in 60 days reduce some other obligations if they did not shield Tehran from Washington's sanctions.
Iran's Foreign Ministry replies that it "will not accept any change in the deal," adding that it will "not take any action beyond its commitments."