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January 22, 2017 1:28 pm
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Iranian Atomic Energy Chief: If Trump Rips Up Nuclear Deal, We Will ‘Snap Back’ and Be In Better Position Than Before

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Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Ali Akbar Salehi. Photo: Wuest / MSC via Wikimedia Commons.

Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Ali Akbar Salehi (right). Photo: Wuest / MSC via Wikimedia Commons.

If newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump nixes the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran’s nuclear program will “snap back” and be better off than it was before the July 2015 deal, a top Tehran regime official told Canada’s CBC News in an interview published on Saturday.

The Islamic Republic, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Ali Akbar Salehi declared, will “act appropriately” if Trump moves to kill the nuclear agreement that was reached by Iran and six world powers.

“We can very easily snap back and go back … not only to where we were, but a much higher position technologically speaking,” Salehi told CBC News. “I don’t want to see that day. I don’t want to make a decision in that course, but we are prepared.”

Salehi, according to CBC News, watched Trump’s inauguration address with the expectation that he would talk about Iran or the nuclear deal. Neither was mentioned during the speech — something that Salehi called “positive.”

Trump did, however, vow to “eradicate” radical Islamic terrorism “completely from the face of the earth.”

Earlier last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country would retaliate if Trump takes action against the JCPOA.

“We will surprise him the same way he likes to surprise the others,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying during a visit to Myanmar.

“It is up to the US to decide to behave in front of the international community,” Zarif stated. “It seems the others are worried about Trump’s in-campaigning remarks, especially about the issue of Palestine and some other issues, but we are not at all worried, and we wait to see.”

“Whatever Trump does, does not concern us at all, as we have our own options,” he continued. “However, it is an international agreement which demands the full commitment of the whole world.”

On Tuesday, as reported by The Algemeiner, Zarif said there had been no communication between Iran and Trump’s transition team.

The fate of the JCPOA in the Trump era remains unclear.

In a pre-election interview with The Algemeiner in early November, senior Trump adviser David Friedman — who has since been picked to serve as the next US ambassador to Israel — said a Trump administration would “reengage with the world powers in a way that seeks to reintroduce leverage on Iran.”

Iran was expected to be one of the subjects discussed by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Sunday.

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