‘US not changed after Iran nuclear deal’

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, after warnings by Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei about plots against Iran.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has talked to the representatives of the parliament or the Majlis today and touched on some very key points. Let’s look at one of them. The first one is about trying to stop the conspiracies that continue to be plotted against the Islamic Republic. I want to talk about some of this. Basically, he said that the United States has not changed its position from prior to the P5+1 to today; your take, Sir.

Marandi: Well, I think this is something that’s well-known right now among many Iranians that during the negotiations, there were those who felt that perhaps the United States will change its policy towards Iran. Now that the new government, the new administration in Iran has changed its tone and since Iran has shown flexibility, the hope amongst these people was that the United States would show change and try to be more sincere towards Iran. But reality on the ground is that the United States really hasn’t changed at all towards Iran whether after the nuclear deal or before the nuclear deal.

And the reason is because the United States has a problem with Iran due to Iran’s independent foreign policy and its independence from the United States. And this is not the problem that Iranians have only; it’s the problem that exists in Latin America. We saw that the United States helped to overthrow the legitimate president in Brazil and what was similar to a coup. We see that the United States is playing a very destructive role in Syria by supporting al-Qaeda extremists and the United States is aiding Saudi Arabia.

So, the United States in general hasn’t changed its behavior because of its hegemonic practices and its attempt to dominate different parts of the world. So, I think that this has been a good experience for Iranian people. Those, who were skeptical of the United States, continue to be skeptical and those who, I think, were a bit naïve, I think, they learned a lot from the last few months.

Press TV: When we look at the P5+1 deal, Iran is definitely keeping its side of the bargain and yet the other side, some of the European countries say they want too and they’re pointing their finger at Washington; do you think from the very beginning that the United States, when sitting at the negotiating table, ever really had the intention of actually carrying out what they had agreed upon?

Marandi: I have no doubt and I think that it’s quite obvious that the United States, when it was sitting down on the negotiating table, it was not sincere and that in implementing the agreement it is not sincere either. I don’t think that anything significant has changed in the United States over the last few months to make it more hostile towards Iran. When of course now that we have the nuclear deal, we see that the United States is accusing Iran of terrorism, human rights violation, whereas the United States not only carries out gross human rights violations across the world in Yemen, in Syria, in Libya and inside the United States itself but also the United States’ ally is the most despotic and disgusting regime in the world, which is the Saudi ruling family.