Thousands of Iranians have rallied in Tehran following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from a multinational nuclear deal, just as the country’s foreign minister is set to embark on a diplomatic tour to negotiate with the landmark 2015 pact’s other signatories.
Demonstrators in the capital on Friday carried placards reading “Down with USA” and “[Donald] Trump, you are talking nonsense”, referring to the US president who called the deal “horrible”, “one-sided” and “defective at its core”.
They also chanted “Death to America” and “We fight, we die, but we do not accept any compromise”, the state-run Fars news agency said.
The 2015 agreement between major world powers – the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union – and Iran set limits on Tehran’s ability to produce nuclear material in exchange for sanctions relief and greater access to the global economy.
Responding to Trump’s announcement on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani slammed the US decision and said he had ordered the foreign ministry to soon begin negotiations with the deal’s other signatories.
“If at the end of this short period we conclude that we can fully benefit from the [deal] with the cooperation of all countries, the deal would remain,” Rouhani said.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, will begin a round of visits on Saturday, a spokesman told AFP news agency.
His tour will take him to China and Russia first, and then to Brussels on Tuesday, where he will meet with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany.
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