He said Iran would only sit down with the United States .. https://www.aljazeera.com/topics/country/united-states.html .. if it lifted punishing economic sanctions it has imposed on Tehran and rejoined the 2015 nuclear deal it abandoned last year.
Trump pulled the US out of the landmark multilateral accord saying he wanted to negotiate a new deal that also addressed Iran's ballistic missiles programme and support for armed groups in the region.
"If you want to discuss ballistic missiles, then we need to discuss the amount of weapons sold to our region," he said.
"Last year, Iran spent $16bn altogether on its military, we have an 82 million population. UAE with a million population spent $22bn. Saudi Arabia - with less than half of [Iran's] population - spent $67bn, most of them are American [arms].
"These are American weaponry that is going into our region, making our region ready to explode. So if they want to talk about our missiles, they need first to stop selling all these weapons including missiles to our region."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday Iran had signaled it was ready to negotiate about its ballistic missiles during a White House Cabinet meeting. Trump remarked: "We'll see what happens. But a lot of progress has been made."
His assessment drew a quick denial from the spokesman for Iran's mission to the United Nations, who posted on Twitter: "Iran's missiles ... are absolutely and under no condition negotiable with anyone or any country, period."
VIDEO - 'Not significant': EU urges Iran to reverse nuclear deal breaches (2:26)
"Let me ask you - who's bombing Yemen? Who's invading Bahrain? Who kept the prime minister of another country a prisoner," Zarif asked.
"Are we involved at all in North Africa? ... Why do you have chaos in Libya? Is Iran involved in Libya? ... in Sudan? ... in Algeria? Why do we have all this turmoil? I believe if you want to look at the right place for those who have malign activity in our region, the US needs to look at its own allies, not at Iran."
"Once those sanctions are lifted, then ... the door for negotiations is wide open," Zarif said. "It is the United States that left the bargaining table. And they're always welcome to return."
In the year since the US exited the nuclear deal - a move opposed by the pact's remaining signatories - Washington has tightened sanctions on Iran, including on its oil and banking sectors.
In May, Washington also sent warships, bombers and thousands of additional troops to the Gulf, citing unspecified threats from Iran. Tensions have since soared, with the US calling off air raids against Iran at the last minute after Tehran downed a US spy plane that it said encroached on its airspace in June, a claim Washington denies.
'Circumvent pressure'
When asked if Trump's decision to halt air raids amounted to a diplomatic overture, Zarif said: "It's not an overture if you decide not to commit another act of aggression against a country that is capable of defending itself."
VIDEO - WATCH Will there be another war in the Gulf?
Vowing to continue resisting "aggression", Zarif said Iranians will "find a way to circumvent the pressure through relying on their own resources, on their own capabilities, and on their own talent".
The Islamic Republic, which has been under a variety of sanctions since its founding in 1979, invested in its ballistic missiles and nuclear programmes because of those sanctions, he added. But he warned: "Of course when there is tension, there is tension for everybody. Nobody is immune in a tense environment."
The new US sanctions have plunged the Iranian economy into crisis, and caused a shortage in critical medicines, Zarif said, a move he said has put Iranian people under "huge humanitarian pressure".
"They are terrorising our people. They are targeting ordinary Iranian civilians. That's worse than war," he added.
No 'regime change'
Trump on Tuesday said the United States is not pushing to topple Iran's leadership but is determined to stop it acquiring nuclear weapons.
VIDEO - European powers urge unity to save Iran nuclear deal
"We are not looking for regime change. We are not looking for that at all," he said, though adding, "They can't have a nuclear weapon."
Iran's supreme leader upped the ante in the volatile stand-off with the US, warning Tehran would continue removing restraints on its nuclear programme.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate authority, accused Britain, Germany and France of failing to uphold obligations under the nuclear deal to restore Iranian access to global trade, especially for Tehran's oil exports blocked by US sanctions.
"According to our foreign minister, Europe made 11 commitments, none of which they abided by. We abided by our commitments and even beyond them. Now that we've begun to reduce our commitments, they oppose it. How insolent. You didn't abide by your commitments," Khamenei said, according to his website.
"We have started to reduce our commitments and this trend shall continue," Khamenei said in remarks carried by state television.
Iran has long denied any intent to acquire nuclear weapons, and has said all its breaches could be reversed if Washington returned to the deal and its economic dividends were realised. Tehran has accused Washington of waging "economic war".
"Western governments' major vice is their arrogance," Khamenei said. "If the country opposing them is a weak one, their arrogance works. But if it's a country that knows and stands up against them, they will be defeated."
VIDEO - INSIDE STORY Has the door closed on diplomacy between Iran and US?
Iran sanctions: nearly all UN security council unites against 'unpleasant' US
"Iran: New US sanctions target Supreme Leader Khamenei"
Letters from 13 of 15 members underscore US isolation as it seeks to ‘snap back’ measures against Tehran
Mike Pompeo is flanked by the US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, and US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, as he speaks to reporters following a meeting with members of the UN security council. Photograph: Mike Segar/AFP/Getty Images
Julian Borger in Washington Sat 22 Aug 2020 08.35 AEST
First published on Sat 22 Aug 2020 08.01 AEST
The extent of US isolation at the UN has been driven home by formal letters from 13 of the 15 security council members opposing Trump administration attempts to extend the economic embargo on Iran .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran .
Under that deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA), comprehensive UN sanctions on Iran would be restored 30 days after the declaration. But almost every other council member has issued letters saying that the US has no standing to trigger this sanctions “snapback” because it left the JCPOA in May 2018.
The US has said it is still technically a participant because it is named as one in a 2015 security council resolution endorsing the JCPOA. The argument was rejected by France, the UK and Germany even before Pompeo made his declaration.
Only the Dominican Republic has yet to issue a formal letter on the subject. Last week the Caribbean state was the only security council member to back the US .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/14/us-iran-un-arms-embargo-nuclear-deal .. when it tried to extend an arms embargo on Iran. Pompeo visited the island two days after that vote.
Council members who normally consider themselves US allies on most issues said they would have supported Washington if a compromise had been found, in which the arms embargo could have been extended for a limited time period. The defeat of the US resolution on the embargo led directly to Pompeo’s legal gambit to try to snap back UN sanctions.
Diplomats at the UN said the depth of US isolation was in part a reflection of the abrasive style used by Pompeo, who accused Europeans of choosing to “side with the ayatollahs”, and the US ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, a political appointee.
“The Americans were actually being over the top in their ridiculousness,” one diplomat said.
“The underlying point here is that most countries on the security council basically agree with the US that Iran is not a nice country and it having nuclear weapons and more arms is not a good thing,” the diplomat said. “But the Americans misplayed their hand so often, so aggressively, that they isolated themselves from people not on policy, but on just being unpleasant.”
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