News Flash
TEHRAN, Nov 9, 2024 BSS/AFP) - Iran on Saturday urged US President-elect
Donald Trump to reconsider the "maximum pressure" policy he pursued against
Tehran during his first term.
"Trump must show that he is not following the wrong policies of the past,"
Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif told
reporters on Saturday.
Zarif, a veteran diplomat who previously served as Iran's foreign minister,
helped seal the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and Western powers,
including the United States.
The deal however was torpedoed in 2018 after the US unilaterally withdrew
from it under Trump, who later reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
In response, Iran rolled back its obligations under the deal and has since
enriched uranium up to 60 percent, just 30 percent lower than nuclear-grade.
Tehran has repeatedly denied Western countries' accusations that it is
seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.
Zarif also said on Saturday that Trump's political approach towards Iran led
to the surge in enrichment levels.
"He must have realised that the maximum pressure policy that he initiated
caused Iran's enrichment to reach 60 percent from 3.5 percent," he said.
"As a man of calculation, he should do the math and see what the advantages
and disadvantages of this policy have been and whether he wants to continue
or change this harmful policy," Zarif added.
During his first term, Trump also ordered the killing of revered Iranian
commander, Qasem Soleimani, who led the Revolutionary Guards' foreign
operations arm, the Quds Force.
Soleimani was killed in a drone strike while he was in the Iraqi capital
Baghdad in January 2020.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Thursday said he hoped
the president-elect's return to the White House would allow Washington to
"revise the wrong approaches of the past" -- however stopping short of
mentioning Trump's name.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters he was "not looking to do damage to Iran".
"My terms are very easy. They can't have a nuclear weapon. I'd like them to
be a very successful country," he said after he cast his ballot.
Trump's victory comes as Iran has exchanged direct attacks with its arch-
nemesis, Israel, raising fears of further regional spillover of the conflicts
in Gaza and Lebanon.