WASHINGTON – A poll conducted by the NBC news network and published Thursday in the United States found that 68 percent of Americans do not believe Iran will comply with the terms of a nuclear deal signed with the international coalition. About 25 percent of those polled said they had faith that Iran would hold up its end of the bargain.
Moreover, 53 percent said that the nuclear deal with Iran is a serious threat for the US, compared to 37 percent who said it constituted a minor threat, and 8 percent who said it was not a threat.
Meanwhile, the US administration responded on Thursday to the statements made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, who called for the immediate lifting of sanctions on the first day of the implementation of the nuclear deal.
“Sanctions will be suspended in a phased manner upon verification that Iran has met specific commitments under a finalized joint comprehensive plan of action,” State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said.
“The process of sanctions suspension or relief will only begin after Iran has completed its major nuclear steps and the breakout time has been increased to at least a year,” Rathke said.
“So that’s consistent with what we said over the last week or so, and that was agreed upon by all the parties in Lausanne,” he said.
Britain’s Foreign Office backed this position.
“Sanctions will remain in place until the comprehensive deal is agreed and there is IAEA-verified implementation by Iran of its nuclear commitments,” a spokesman said.
On Thursday, Rouhani said: “We will not sign any deal unless all sanctions are lifted on the same day … We want a win-win deal for all parties involved in the nuclear talks.”
Khamenei called the deal “non-binding” and said the prospect of lifting sanctions in stages was “unacceptable”, saying they must be removed on the same day a deal is signed.
He also said that an extension of the June 30 deadline “would not be the end of the world” and that the talks between Iran and the powers were only about the nuclear issue.
On April 2, after months of grueling negotiations, Tehran and the six powers agreed on the broad outline of a deal to impose tighter controls on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
Thousands of Iranians flooded into the streets to welcome the agreement, which they hope will end decades of political and economic isolation, but the Islamic republic’s conservative leadership has been more reserved.
The P5+1 powers and Tehran have given themselves until June to finalise a detailed accord, but Washington has released fact sheets outlining steps it says Tehran has already agreed to take.
This has angered Iran, and drew a fierce response from Khamenei.
In his first comments on the outline, Khamenei said “everything is in the detail; it may be that the other side, which is unfair, wants to limit our country in the details.”
