Iran’s IRGC chief urges US to leave behind Trump’s ‘failed’ policies

Iran’s IRGC chief urges US to leave behind Trump’s ‘failed’ policies
February 8, 2021, 11:35 am

Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami speaks in Tehran. (File photo: AFP)

The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami called on the new US administration on Monday to not pursue the previous administration’s “failed” policies towards Tehran.

“Do not repeat your failed policies,” Maj. Gen. Salami said, referring to former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed broad sanctions on Iran as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign.

Iran will not trade its independence for sanctions relief, Salami said, adding that the Islamic republic has grown immune to sanctions and its impacts.

President Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the deal if Iran returns to complying with it, but Tehran has said the US must make the first move by rejoining the deal and lifting sanctions.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Sunday Tehran will return to compliance with the deal only if Washington lifts “all” sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaking with officials in Tehran. (File photo: AFP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told state TV on Sunday the US has “no choice” but to rejoin the deal as it will not get a better one.

Tehran is not in a hurry for the US to rejoin the nuclear deal, he added.

In a CBS interview aired Sunday, Biden said the US will not lift sanctions on Iran to get the Islamic republic back to the negotiating table and that Tehran needs to stop enriching uranium beyond the limits of the deal first.