Iran dismisses new US pressure, calls for ‘mutual respect’
MUNICH — Iran’s foreign minister brushed aside new pressure from the United States on Sunday, declaring that his country is “unmoved by threats” but responds well to respect.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers, under which Tehran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, but hasn’t said what he plans to do about it.
His administration has said Iran was “on notice” over a recent ballistic missile test, and imposed new sanctions on more than two dozen Iranian companies and individuals.
“Iran doesn’t respond well to threats,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top diplomats and defence officials. “We don’t respond well to coercion. We don’t respond well to sanctions, but we respond very well to mutual respect. We respond very well to arrangements to reach mutually acceptable scenarios.”