Islamic Iran MPs pledge ‘unforgettable’ response to nuclear deal breach

Iranian lawmakers have pledged an “unforgettable” response to any violation of a nuclear agreement after Leader of the Islamic Revolution said Tehran would “set fire” to the deal if the US reneged on it.

In a statement issued on Sunday, as many as 237 MPs announced their “firm” support for Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s recent remarks in an apparent refrain to US presidential candidates’ threat to tear up the deal.
“In case the opposite side breaks its promise, we will teach the violators an unforgettable lesson, and make the arrogance regret its breach of promise,” the letter said.
Presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump said last August it would be hard to “rip up” the deal, but if elected president he would “police that contract so tough they don’t have a chance.”
“The Islamic Republic won’t be the first to violate the nuclear deal. Staying faithful to a promise is a Qur’anic order,” Ayatollah Khamenei said earlier this week.
“But if the threat from the American presidential candidates to tear up the deal becomes operational, then the Islamic Republic will set fire to the deal,” the Leader added.
Iran reached an agreement with the US, the EU as well as Russia and China in July to scale back its nuclear activities in return for draconian sanctions against Tehran to be lifted.
In their statement on Sunday, the lawmakers said Iran’s “strategic nuclear industry must be preserved and developed.”
“It is necessary to always take care of the abilities in this industry and its skilled manpower and maintain the viability to reach the former status” in Iran’s nuclear program, they said.
“Against the criminal and hostile behavior of the global arrogance and international Zionism which have targeted the great Islamic Republic of Iran’s existence, we have to increase our might in faith, economy, defense, science, politics and population and confront their evil plots,” they added.
Iranian officials say the US has not changed its hostile ways with Tehran despite the agreement. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said in April that Iran had its “own means to make them (Americans) regret” their actions.
His remarks came after the US Supreme Court ruled that some $2 billion in Iranian assets frozen in an American bank account should be turned over to the families of those killed in a series of attacks.