Zarif: Trump likely not to certify nuclear deal in Oct. leading Iran resumption of uranium enrichment at a more advanced level

“I think he has made a policy of being unpredictable, and now he’s turning that into being unreliable as well,” Zarif said in the interview. “My assumption and guess is that he will not certify and then will allow Congress to take the decision.”

In that case, Congress would have 60 days to re-impose sanctions against Iran which are suspended under the nuclear deal.

Zarif went on to warn that US withdrawal from the deal would backfire on Washington, saying Iran would consider the option of abandoning the deal and resuming uranium enrichment at a more advanced level than before.

“The deal allowed Iran to continue its research and development. So we have improved our technological base,” he said. “If we decide to walk away from the deal we would be walking away with better technology. It will always be peaceful, because membership of the NPT is not dependent on this deal. But we will not observe the limitations that were agreed on as part of the bargain in this deal.”

“There are other options and those options will depend on how the rest of the international community deal with the United States,” he said. “If Europe and Japan and Russia and China decided to go along with the United States, then I think that will be the end of the deal.”

The Iranian top diplomat further called on Europe to defy any subsequent US sanctions if the Trump administration did not uphold the agreement.

He pointed out that in the 1990s when the US adopted sanctions legislation aimed at punishing European companies for doing business in Iran, the EU adopted counter-measures against the US if the US went ahead with imposing restrictions.

“And it has been suggested by many that might be the course of action that Europe wants to take,” Zarif added.