In new comments made during a meeting with the British Ambassador, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the US withdrawal from the P5+1 nuclear deal was “illegal,” and that the rest of the parties would have to find a way to salvage the deal without the US.
That’s going to require a lot of effort, but according to Rouhani, the real onus is on European powers, who are going to have to find ways to ensure Iran retains the right to export oil and that the nuclear deal at all is still manageable.
The meeting came following President Trump’s offer of talks “without preconditions,” though the US has subsequently set up a series of preconditions less than a day later. Rouhani’s comments sough to emphasize that the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal was the cause of the entire problem in the first place.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry concurred, saying that the US has only itself to blame for ending negotiations and withdrawing from the nuclear deal in the first place. US invitations to meet, given that, are not nearly so significant.
Rouhani is right. A deal is a deal.