Iran Press/Europe: Speaking to reporters on Friday, Hamid Baeidinejad also warned that the US assassination of the commander of Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Baghdad last Friday has pushed the region and the world into a dangerous phase.
He said General Soleimani was a leading counter-terrorism commander who became a victim of US terrorism and defended Iran's retaliatory targeting of the US bases in Iraq on Wednesday as an act of self-defense.
Iran is ready to respond to any hostile act of the US President Donald Trump, he said, "We are not after the war but completely ready for defense."
To a question on Iran's next step in reducing its obligations under the nuclear deal, Baeidinejad said the latest and the fifth step was warning to the signatories of the agreement to respect their obligations while Iran has no longer any limitation of enrichment in its peaceful nuclear program.
"The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a multilateral agreement which is also endorsed by the United Nations. Iran decided to incrementally scale back its commitments under the deal after the US withdrawal and the European signatories' indifference," he said.
Iran has incrementally scaled back from its commitments after the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal and re-imposed its sanctions which Iran slammed as economic terrorism.
Commenting on the fatal crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane in Iran on Wednesday, he rejected claims that it was shut down and said the official report will be released as soon as international experts finish their technical investigations.
Iran is interested in finding the facts more than any other country involved because the majority of the victims were Iranians, said Baeidinejad.
The Boeing 737-800 plane belonging to Ukraine International Airlines crashed near Tehran minutes after the take-off from Imam Khomeini Airport on Wednesday when its engine caught fire. All the 167 passengers and 9 crew members were killed in the crash.
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