US exit from Iran nuclear deal will benefit no one: President Rouhani

President Hassan Rouhani has slammed as illegal the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, saying Washington’s move benefits no one.

“Both of us agree that we should try to keep this agreement. We see eye to eye that the US move [to withdraw from the deal] is illegal, against international obligations and to the detriment of the US and all countries," Rouhani said during a joint press conference with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Vienna on Wednesday, Press TV reported.

"The withdrawal of the US from this agreement is not in the interest of anyone,” the president added, stressing that the nuclear deal was the outcome of diplomacy and logic.

The Austrian chancellor, for his part, said his country and the European Union were committed to the JCPOA, adding, “We hope that the talks that will take place in Vienna in the coming days between the foreign ministers of the other parties to the agreement about developments regarding the withdrawal of the United States will have positive results.”

Foreign ministers from China, France, Germany, Britain and Russia will meet with Iranian officials on Friday in Vienna to discuss how to keep the JCPOA alive after the US exit from the pact, Reuters reported.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini confirmed the meeting in a statement on Wednesday.

‘Iran to remain in JCPOA if interests guaranteed’

Earlier in the day, Rouhani held talks with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen, during which he said Tehran would remain committed to the JCPOA without the US if its benefits were guaranteed.

“If Iran can well benefit from the JCPOA, it will safeguard it and if other signatories to the agreement can guarantee Iran’s interests, it will remain committed to the JCPOA without the US,” Rouhani said.   

He described the JCPOA as a very important agreement for Iran, the European Union and the world, and called the US withdrawal from the agreement illegal.

“The US move runs against [international] law, UN Security Council resolutions and multilateral commitments, and will undoubtedly hurt the US and others, that is, the decision taken by the United States is not and will not be in the interest of any one, and this is a strange decision that a government makes in contrary to its own national interests and those of others,” he noted.

Rouhani said Iran expected the five remaining signatories to the deal to keep their trade ties with Tehran intact in the face of US sanctions.

“In our talks today, we emphasized that the era of unilateralism is over, and a country cannot decide for the world and other nations or violate the sovereignty and independence of other countries because it is contrary to the [UN] Charter, international regulations and global peace and interests,” he added.

Rouhani also said that the two sides discussed their trade, economic and cultural ties and regional developments, including the Yemen war, Iran’s fight against terrorism and its assistance to the Iraqi and Syrian nations.

SS