Iran vows ‘expected and unexpected’ moves if U.S. exits nuclear deal

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Saturday Iranian President  Hassan Rouhani said that Iran’s atomic agency was ready with “expected and unexpected” reactions if the United States pulls out of a multinational nuclear deal, as U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to do.

Rouhani said Iran’s atomic energy organization is fully prepared … for actions that they expect and actions they do not expect. He was possibly referring to a possible decision by Trump to leave the accord next month.

The deal  between Iran, the United States and five other world powers put curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

President Trump has called the deal the worst ever. Back in January, he sent an ultimatum to Britain, France and Germany, saying they must agree to fix what the United States sees as the deal’s flaws or he would refuse to extend the critical U.S. sanctions relief that it entails.

Washington has been having “intense” discussions with European allies ahead of the May 12 deadline, when U.S. sanctions against Iran will resume unless Trump issues new waivers to suspend them.

Iran though, has said it will stick to the accord as long as the other parties respect it, but will “shred” the deal if Washington pulls out. According to Iran, they have several options if the United States leaves the nuclear deal.

Rouhani said his government intended to prevent instability in the foreign exchange market after a possible Washington exit from the nuclear accord when the central bank this month slapped controls on markets.

April 9, Iran moved to formally unify the country’s official and open market exchange rates and banned money changing outside of banks, after its currency, the rial, plunged to an all-time low on concerns over a return of crippling sanctions.

Cleric Rouhani has advocated expanding social freedoms, criticized moves by his powerful hardline opponents to restrict access to social media, including blocking access to the popular messaging app Telegram.

But this week, Iranian media said  that government bodies were banned from using Telegram after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office said his account would shut down to protect national security.

Then in January, Iran temporarily blocked Telegram, with an estimated 40 million users in Iran, as security forces sought to contain anti-government protests in more than 80 cities. Many Iranians kept accessing Telegram then, using virtual private networks (VPNs) and other tools to bypass government filtering.