Iran not to renegotiate nuclear deal, Foreign Minister Zarif says
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by The Associated Press, in New York, Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (AP Photo)


Iran's foreign minister took to YouTube on Thursday to criticize President Donald Trump's threat to withdraw from the nuclear deal, saying Iran will not "renegotiate or add onto" the atomic accord.

Mohammad Javad Zarif's video, which was also posted to Trump's favorite social media platform, Twitter, appeared to be taking his message to the masses after earlier speaking to news outlets across the United States to defend the deal.

"Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented," Zarif said.

It comes as Trump has signaled he will withdraw from the agreement by May 12 if it is not renegotiated and changed. Those changes have included proposals to limit Iran's ballistic missile program, which Tehran says it has as a defensive deterrent.

The five-minute video shows Zarif behind his desk, delivering his message on the deal. He offers background first about the deal before laying into Trump and criticizing Europe for offering "the United States more concessions from our pocket."

"On 11 occasions since, the U.N. nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran has implemented all of its obligations," Zarif, who studied in the U.S., says in American-accented English. "In contrast, the U.S. has consistently violated the agreement, especially by bullying others from doing business with Iran."

European signatories of the deal have been trying to persuade Trump to save the pact. They argue that Iran has been abiding by its terms, a position also taken by U.S. intelligence assessments.

"Let me make it clear absolutely and once for all: we will neither outsource our security, nor will we renegotiate or add on to a deal we have already implemented in good faith," Zarif said.

Trump has described the accord, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of economic sanctions, as the worst deal ever negotiated.

There was no immediate response from Washington.

In the video, Zarif also appears to troll Trump as well, saying: "To put it in real-estate terms, when you buy a house and move your family in it or demolish it to build a skyscraper, you cannot come back two years later and renegotiate the price."

Britain, France and Germany -- the three European countries that signed the deal -- have repeatedly tried to persuade Trump not to abandon it.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday reiterated his commitment to the accord but admitted that it needed strengthening.

"I don't know what the US president will decide on May 12," Macron said during a visit to Sydney.

"I just want to say whatever the decision will be, we will have to prepare such a broader negotiation and a broader deal, because I think nobody wants a war in the region, and nobody wants an escalation in terms of tension in the region," he said.