New US nuclear plan irks Iran

DUBAI: Iran accused the US on Sunday of threatening Russia with new atomic weapons after Washington published a document outlining plans to expand its nuclear capabilities to deter others.
The review of US nuclear policy published on Friday has riled Russia, which viewed the document as confrontational, and raised fears that it could increase the risk of miscalculation between the two world powers.
“The Americans are shamelessly threatening Russia with a new atomic weapon,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who opened the way to Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers including longtime adversary Washingon, said in a speech.
“The same people who supposedly believe that using weapons of mass destruction is a crime against humanity ... are talking about new weapons to threaten or use against rivals,” he said in his televised address.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier warned in a tweet that the US policy document posed the risk of “bringing humankind closer to annihilation.”
By expanding its own low-yield nuclear capability, the US would deter Russia from using nuclear weapons, according to American officials.
Zarif also said in his tweet: “(US President Donald) Trump’s obduracy in killing the #JCPOA (Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers) stems from the same dangerous imprudence.”
Trump gave the Iran nuclear deal, negotiated before he took office, a final reprieve last month but warned European allies and Congress they had to work with him to fix “the disastrous flaws” in the pact or face a US exit.
He said he would waive sanctions against Iran that were lifted as part of the international deal for the last time unless his conditions were met.
The ultimatum put pressure on EU powers — key backers and parties to the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program — to satisfy Trump, who wants the pact strengthened with a separate agreement.
Meanwhile, Iran’s oil minister lashed out at the US on Sunday, saying that hostile comments by Trump had torpedoed new oil and gas contracts for the country.
“Trump is trying to destabilize market conditions for those who want to work in Iran,” Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told a press conference.
“For the past year, every three or four months, he has destabilized the market. One cannot say that this is not without effect,” he said.
Zanganeh revealed that Tehran was currently negotiating with “more than 20 foreign companies” to develop its oil and gas fields.
“But I dare not name the projects that are near to being agreed. If I do so, from tomorrow there will be pressure for them not to sign contracts with us,” he said.
Some countries are exerting pressure on European and Asian firms not to agree on contracts with Iran, Zanganeh alleged.
However, he did say he was optimistic about a $5-billion contract signed last July with the French group Total, which heads a consortium with China’s CNPC to develop a gas field.
“I consider that Total is very serious ... I hope it will implement the accord and I think that in a short period of time, it will sign agreements with subcontractors,” Zanganeh said.
He added that Iran had planned measures “if the deal ever runs into trouble” because of pressure from the US.
Brief leave to ailing US citizen
Iran’s judiciary has confirmed that it has granted leave to an ailing 81-year-old US citizen convicted of espionage.
The judiciary’s website, Mizanonline.ir, quotes a spokesman for the judiciary Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi as saying “I think his leave has come to an end today or yesterday,” referring to jailed Iranian-American dual citizen Baquer Namazi.
Ejehi said Namazi was not freed but had his three-day leave extended for another three days for medical checkups.
The temporary reprieve came almost two years to the day after he was arrested in Iran while trying to secure the release of his son, Siamak, a businessman who had been arrested a few months earlier. Both men were eventually convicted of espionage.