President raps new US nuclear plan as threat to Russia
TEHRAN(Basirat): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned the US new nuclear arms policy as threats against Russia following Washington's publication of a document outlining plans to expand its nuclear capabilities.
"You see how the Americans are shamelessly threatening Russia with a new atomic weapon," Rouhani told the inauguration of a defense museum in Tehran Sunday.
"The same people, who believe that weapons of mass destruction are a crime against humanity and say that international bodies have condemned them and all should destroy them, talk about new weapons," he added.
The Pentagon said in a policy statement released Friday that the US military wants to revamp its nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic bombs, largely in response to Russian actions in recent years.
The so-called Nuclear Posture Review outlines the Pentagon's nuclear ambitions under President Donald Trump and is the first time since 2010 that the military has spelled out how it foresees nuclear threats in the coming decades.
The US military has put countering China and Russia, dubbed "revisionist powers", at the center of a new national defense strategy unveiled earlier this month. US officials say by expanding its own low-yield nuclear capability, the US would deter Russia from using nuclear weapons.
Zarif’s tweet
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier warned in a tweet that the US policy document posed the risk of "bringing humankind closer to annihilation”.
Zarif also said in his tweet: "(US President Donald) Trump’s obduracy in killing the #JCPOA (Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers) stems from the same dangerous imprudence”, Press TV reported.
Trump gave the Iran nuclear deal, negotiated before he took office, a final reprieve last month but warned European allies and Congress they had to work with him to fix "the disastrous flaws” in the pact or face a US exit.
He said he would waive sanctions against Iran that were lifted as part of the international deal for the last time unless his conditions were met.
The ultimatum put pressure on European Union powers - key backers and parties to the 2015 international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program – to satisfy Trump, who wants the pact strengthened with a separate agreement.
Source:Irandailynews
