US closest allies oppose Trump's anti-JCPOA policies: Iran FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says even the staunchest allies of the US have voiced their opposition to US President Donald Trump’s policies on the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and Washington’s possible withdrawal from it.

“The policies of the Tramp administration are isolated in the world,” Zarif told reporters upon his arrival in the South African capital city of Pretoria on Sunday.

"The policies of the Trump administration are isolated in the world and it can be witnessed in all parts of the world that even the closest US allies have in fact stood up against Trump’s anti-JCPOA policies ... and have adopted clear stances in this regard," Iran's foreign minister added.

He then pointed to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia and said, “Unfortunately, the Americans do not want to rectify their viewpoint [and understand] that Iran is a source of stability and peace as well as a campaigner against terrorism in the region.”

Zarif emphasized that Daesh terrorist group would have formed an established government in Damascus, Baghdad and Erbil if Iranian military advisors, who are assisting the Syrian and Iraqi armies in their counter-terrorism operations, had not helped those countries.

The Iranian foreign minister expressed regret that US allies have been the root cause of instability and crisis in the region and said the Americans and world people are becoming aware of the fact that the wrong US approaches have greatly backfired on Washington itself.

Zarif urged US politicians to “correct their wrong views as soon as possible and stop supporting Saudi Arabia in killing Yemeni children and the elderly” to prevent more damage to the region.

Zarif made the remarks after Tillerson said in Riyadh on Sunday that "Iranian militias" in Iraq should leave the country now that the fight against Daesh is coming to a close.

“Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against Daesh and ISIS is coming to a close, those militias need to go home. The foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control," Tillerson said at a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

Iran has been providing military advisory support to Syria as well as Iraq in their campaign against terrorism at the request of the two countries’ governments.

Tillerson and Jubeir also discussed Trump's hawkish new policy towards Iran, including a possible withdrawal from the JCPOA.

Trump on October 13 refused to formally certify that Iran was complying with the 2015 nuclear deal and warned that he might ultimately terminate the agreement.

While Trump did not pull Washington out of the JCPOA, he gave the US Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the pact. Reimposing sanctions would put the US at odds with other signatories to the accord and the European Union.

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