Rouhani’s threat to abandon the nuclear deal apparently proves that the agreement has no real substance.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday the Islamic Republic could abandon its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers “within hours” if the US follows through with imposing new sanctions on Iran, claiming that sanctions violate the deal.

“If America wants to go back to the experience [of imposing sanctions], Iran would certainly return in a short time, not a week or a month but within hours, to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations,” Rouhani said in an address that was broadcast from the Iranian parliament.

He added, “Iran has remained and will remain committed to the deal, though any breach of promise by other parties will receive appropriate responses.”

In June, the US Senate overwhelmingly passed the Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act, which targets Iran’s ballistic missile programs and applies sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its terrorist activities. In early August, President Donald Trump signed the sanctions bill into law.

The new US sanctions came amid Iran’s reported fueling of the recent Temple Mount crisis and its agrIran has claimed that the non-nuclear sanctions violate the nuclear deal.

Israel has repeatedly warned that the nuclear deal does not actually hinder Iran’s aspirations or capabilities to develop nuclear weapons, but only sets it slightly back.

By: JNS.org and United with Israel Staff