Trump's Decision to Decertify Iran Nuclear Deal to Isolate US - Iranian Lawmaker

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The decision of US President Donald Trump not to recognize Tehran's compliance with the nuclear agreement will isolate Washington, because of the move's unilateral nature, Seyedeh Hosseini, the head of the Iranian delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), told Sputnik on Saturday.

"The JCPOA is not a unilateral agreement, it is a multilateral agreement. Yesterday, Mrs [EU foreign affairs chief Federica] Mogherini commented on Trump's speech and she rejected all these statements. It is not up to Trump to state about the compliance of Iran, Iran has been complying up until today. The statements that Trump made would only isolate the United States internationally because JCPOA is not unilateral," Hosseini said on the sidelines of the 137th IPU Assembly in St. Petersburg.

Commenting on the sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian lawmaker added that Iran itself had been a victim of terrorist attacks in the past, stressing she strongly believed Tehran had put all necessary efforts in the fight against this global threat.

"Our country has faced unjustified sanctions before and this is not for the first time when we are threatened by sanctions. In our fight against terrorism we continuously put all our efforts forward to end terrorism, which is continuously is supported and in fact has been created by the United States. More than 70,000 of the Iranians have been victims of terrorists through the past 40 years. Our president and vice-president have been terrorized, so it is obvious on which side of the table we are," the head of the Iranian delegation added.

On Friday, Trump said his administration had decided not to certify Iran's compliance with the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but had not challenged Iran's compliance with the deal at the international level. The US leader also ordered the Department of the Treasury to impose new sanctions against the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for its alleged assistance to terrorist groups.

Prior to Trump's move, the chief of the Iran Revolutionary Guards had reportedly vowed to equate the US Army with Daesh if the US put them on the terror group list.

The IPU is one of the oldest international organizations, which was founded in 1889. Its goal is to establish personal contacts between members of parliaments and bring them together to promote cooperation between states. The IPU consists of 173 member states and has 11 associate members.