Iranian President tweets swipe at Trump over nuclear deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted a swipe at President Donald Trump, hours after skewering the United States during his inauguration for a second term.

“Those intend to tear up the JCPOA, surely be tearing up the scroll of their political life and the world will not forget their disloyalty,” read the tweet from Rouhani’s Twitter account posted on Saturday afternoon.

Rouhani last tweeted in June.

The JCPOA refers to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which trades sanctions relief for a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump has said that Iran is violating the “spirit” of the agreement by engaging in activities, including testing missiles and military adventurism in the region, not covered by the agreement.

Trump last month recertified Iran’s adherence to the 2015 deal brokered by President Barack Obama. But he did so reluctantly, at the behest of his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster; his defence secretary, James Mattis; and his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. They argued that decertification would alienate U.S. allies because Iran is indeed complying with the deal’s strictures.

However, within days of giving the go-ahead to recertify, Trump reportedly tasked a separate team, led by his top strategic adviser, Steve Bannon, to come up with a reason to decertify Iran the next time the 90-day assessment rolls around, in October.

Rouhani, who was reelected for a second term in May, took the oath of office on Saturday before the Iranian Parliament in Tehran and in the presence of foreign dignitaries including senior European figures, Reuters reported.

“The U.S. lack of commitment to implementation of the nuclear deal … proved it to be an unreliable partner to the world and even to its longtime allies,” Rouhani said in the ceremony broadcast live on state television.

“Those who want to tear up the nuclear deal should know that they will be ripping up their own political life,” Rouhani said, referring to Trump.

“Iran would not be the first to pull out of the nuclear deal, but it will not remain silent about the U.S. repeated violations of the accord,” he also said.