 Iranian FM urges Biden to end 'rogue' US behaviour Rome (AFP) Dec 3, 2020 - Iran's foreign minister on Thursday urged US President-elect Joe Biden to abandon Washington's "rogue" behaviour and lift crippling sanctions on his country, rejecting talk of renegotiating the 2015 nuclear deal. Mohammad Javad Zarif said that when President Donald Trump left the landmark agreement, the United States had breached a UN Security Council resolution endorsing it. "The US has been in grave breach of that resolution because the Trump administration has been a rogue regime," Zarif said in an online interview held as part of the Mediterranean Dialogues event, hosted by Italy. "Now if President-elect Biden wants to continue to be a rogue regime, then he can continue to be asking for negotiations to implement its commitments," he added. "The United States must stop, the United States must cease its violations of international law. It doesn't require any negotiations." Decades old US-Iranian tensions escalated after Trump unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018 and reimposed, then toughened, sanctions that have hammered Iran's economy. Biden has signalled he will return the US to the deal, which offered Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for guarantees, verified by the United Nations, that its nuclear programme has no military aims. Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued veiled criticism of Biden as he marked the 84th birthday of Iranian-American Mohammad Bagher Namazi, who along with his businessman son and at least one other US citizen remains in prison on vague security charges. "There should be no deals with Iran until these men are released," Pompeo wrote on Twitter. Biden told The New York Times this week that if Iran returned to compliance, the US would rejoin, after which he would seek to tighten Iran's nuclear constraints and address concerns about both its missile programme and Iran's support for militants in the region. But Zarif said: "We will not renegotiate a deal which we negotiated." And he added that Western powers should look to their own behaviour before criticising Iran. "Last year the West sold to the Persian Gulf more weapons than it sold to any other part of the world. Over $100 billion worth of weapons were sold to this region. Is the West ready to stop this malign behaviour?" Zarif said. He also complained at what he characterised as a lack of European outrage at the assassination of one of Iran's leading nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, outside Tehran last week -- an attack that Tehran has blamed on Israel. "When they (the West) are ready to deal with those problems of their own malign behaviour in the region... then they can start talking about other things," he said. "As long as they're not able to put up, they have to shut up."
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Israel warned Thursday of an increased threat against its citizens abroad following Iran's call to avenge last week's assassination of its top nuclear scientist.
The death of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed in a bomb and gun attack on a major road outside Tehran on Friday, has been blamed in part on Israel's Mossad spy agency by the Islamic republic.
"In light of recent threats from Iranian elements... we fear that Iran may attack Israeli targets," the Israeli foreign ministry said.
It warned of possible attacks against its nationals in Africa and in countries geographically close to Iran, citing Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Kurdish region of Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The National Security Council, citing attacks already carried out in France, Germany and Austria, said that global jihad organisations, especially the Islamic State group, "are demonstrating high motivation to carry out terrorist attacks."
"It is possible that part of the current wave of Islamist terrorism will reach targets identified with Israel or Jewish communities, synagogues, kosher restaurants and Jewish museums," it warned, urging travellers to check for any warnings regarding their destination.
Bahrain and the UAE normalised ties with Israel in September and commercial air links were established between Dubai and Tel Aviv late last month.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi had been due to visit Bahrain at the weekend for a regional conference, but diplomatic sources told AFP that his trip was cancelled after Iran blamed Israel for Fakhrizadeh's assassination and threatened retaliation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday accused Iran of having taken advantage of its international nuclear deal -- which allowed economic sanctions to be lifted, before they were reinstated and toughened by US President Donald Trump -- in order to "extend" its influence in Iraq, Yemen and Syria.
The nuclear deal let the "tiger" out of its cage, Netanyahu said during an online discussion with Washington's Hudson Center for Analysis.
US president-elect Joe Biden has signalled his intention to resume dialogue with Iran.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday called on Biden to once again lift the sanctions against his country, while excluding any renegotiation of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had on Saturday accused Israel of acting as Washington's mercenary, blaming the Jewish state for the killing of the nuclear scientist.
Rouhani also said, however, that his country would seek its revenge in "due time" and not be rushed into a "trap", with less than two months to go before the hawkish administration of US President Trump leaves office.
On Monday, Iran's top security official, Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani, alleged that "the Zionist regime and the Mossad" were involved in the scientist's killing, referring to the Israeli government and its spy agency.
Shamkhani also alleged that exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedeen of Iran was involved, in a complex operation that used electronic equipment "with no one present at the scene".
Officials in Israel have declined to comment on the attack.
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