The Supreme Leader’s Advisor for foreign affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati has angrily reacted to reports that President Donald Trump is seeking access for inspections of “suspicious” military sites in Iran.
“Under no circumstances Americans will be allowed to inspect Iranian military sites”, Velayati said on August 5.
“They (American inspectors) are neither allowed, nor would they dare to violate Iran's security domain,” Velayati, a former foreign minister, retorted.
Furthermore, Velayati maintained that such “empty” US remarks would only “discredit” Washington on the international scene.
Earlier, on July 27, the Associated Press had reported that the Trump administration was pushing for inspections of “suspicious Iranian military sites,” either to prove that Iran was violating the deal or force it to refuse, which could cause the agreement to collapse.
But AP had mentioned IAEA and not American inspectors. Why Velayati is emphasizing “American” inspectors, is not clear.
Also, the U.S. has not officially demanded new inspections
Meanwhile, it was reported that the White House is planning to formulate a new deal for stopping the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities beyond the time span of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA or Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
The effort, according to unnamed U.S. officials, includes talks with Washington’s European allies to negotiate a follow-up agreement to prevent the Islamic Republic from resuming its nuclear program after the JCPOA’s restrictions expire in about a decade.
President Trump’s administration considers the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC) activities, Iran’s nuclear and missile programs as a threat against stability of the region and its allies in the Middle East.
Tehran has always dismissed these interpretations as unfounded.
Donald Trump, during his campaign for presidency repeatedly said that JCPOA is “a very, very bad deal” and, if elected, he will tear it up.
Nevertheless, after entering the White House, Trump and his close advisors have preferred to avoid straight anti-JCPOA comments, only saying that they will review it.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator, Bob Corker has emphasized that U.S. does not want to be responsible for JCPOA’s cancellation, since Washington needs to keep its allies on its side.
One of Trump’s main complains about JCPOA is the fact that it covers only Tehran’s nuclear activities, not its missile program, support for terrorism and Iran’s activities in Iraq and Syria.