Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says so far, the administration of US President Joe Biden has kept up his predecessor Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy towards Iran that has brought along nothing but defeat and disgrace for Washington.

“It has been a month now that the Biden administration has been continuing Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ policy of lawlessness, one-upmanship, and bullying,” he said in Tehran on Wednesday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Iranian administration, Press TV reported.

“If they believe that this policy has failed and made the US lose face, then its continuation is not going to help them out [any more] either, and will bring along the same failure and disgrace for them,” Zarif added.

Zarif reminded that despite stopping its commitment to the Additional Protocol, Tehran would still retain its routine cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency by allowing the UN nuclear watchdog to keep up its regular inspections of the country’s nuclear work.

By sustaining its violations of the nuclear deal after the parliament’s deadline, the US would, however, be inviting even more disgrace for itself, he said.

Nevertheless, if the illegal sanctions were lifted, Iran too would resume its nuclear obligations and reverse its decision concerning the Additional Protocol, the top diplomat noted, echoing Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s opinion in the area.

The Leader has asserted on several occasions that the Islamic Republic would only return to its commitments in the nuclear deal, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), once the bans were relieved in a way that could be verifiable by Tehran.

“If they think they can create a leverage for themselves by sustaining their already defeated policy, they should know this that in Iran too, some [counter]developments will take place on the ground [in return],” Zarif concluded, referring to how the country would take its nuclear counter-steps further if the counterparty continued its non-compliance.

SS