In an unprecedented remark Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi (Araghchi) has said that "Any U.S. president other than Trump would have also pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran, the official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying Wednesday August 28.
President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark nuclear accord in May 2018, criticizing it as a bad deal and demanding Iran change its behavior.
Araqchi’s remark was in the context of the United States having sinister designs when it agreed to the nuclear deal.
He added, "By signing the JCPOA, they entered a game which did not end in the way they liked. They saw that not only the Islamic Republic was not weakened, Iran and resistance groups became more powerful in the region" as a result of the nuclear agreement with Iran.
Some Iranian and international observers had previously said that the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was inevitable regardless of who is in the White House as the agreement limited Iran's nuclear and military capabilities only temporarily.
However, Araqchi is the first Iranian official who has said that any U.S. President other than Donald Trump would have also done the same.
Speaking at a conference entitled "Foreign Intelligence and Security Organization in the Second Step of the Revolution," Araqchi at the same time reiterated Tehran's hard line on the 2015 nuclear deal and Iran-U.S ties.
He said: "Donald Trump's maximum pressure policy about Iran aims at pushing the Islamic Republic of Iran toward an implosion, or forcing it to return to negotiations with Trump's conditions.”
Araqchi said Iran's answer to that is "maximum resistance and mobilization." Araqchi's remarks show a a close similarity with positions normally espoused by Iran's hardliners.