Iran reacts to Donald Trump’s withdrawal from INF treaty

Tabnak – In another sign of indifference toward international norms and commitments, the US administration abandoned a nuclear arms control treaty with Russia. Iran, which has itself been a target of American unilateralism, sees the development as Washington’s move toward self-isolation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted to the US government’s move on Friday to leave the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia and said the international commerce and power are shifting and exiting from the treaty cannot reverse that.

“Int'l commerce & power are shifting: neither #EconomicTerrorism against China & Iran nor exiting #INFTreaty with Russia will reverse that,” Zarif said on his Twitter account on Friday.

“As Iran's regional dialog & non-aggression pact advance, #B_Team shrinks. US should stop isolating itself & adapt to new global realities,” the Iranian top diplomat wrote in his tweet.

This came shortly after the US imposed a new set of sanctions against Russia over its alleged role in the poisoning of an ex-spy in the United Kingdom in 2018.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump also announced plans to impose an additional 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting next month as part of an ongoing trade conflict with China.

Washington has likewise abandoned a multilateral deal on Iran’s nuclear program and unleashed harsh economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Along with his latest tweet, Zarif provided a screen shot of a Daily Telegraph news item dating back to April 19 about US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s appeal to the NATO military alliance for unity against what he called “great power” challenges from Russia, China and Iran.

Pompeo was using the classic concept of great-power competition — which refers to a specific pattern of relations between rival powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“It appears that @SecPompeo’s paranoia about “Great Powers” is becoming a true phobia,” Zarif said. “Wake up: The era of “Great Powers” is long past.”

Washington signaled it would pull out of the arms control treaty six months ago unless Moscow stuck to the accord, but Russia said that was a ploy to exit a treaty it said the United States wanted to leave anyway in order to develop new missiles.

The 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was negotiated by then-US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.