Rouhani says Iran will never seek nuclear weapons

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday his country will never seek nuclear weapons, with or without a treaty in place, and urged European nations not to violate the 2015 deal that President Trump pulled the U.S. out of in 2018. 

“We have never sought nuclear weapons. … With or without the nuclear deal, we will never seek nuclear weapon,” Rouhani said, according to Reuters, which cited the president’s Iranian website. 

“The European powers will be responsible for the consequences of violating the pact,” he reportedly added. 

Iran has rolled back its commitments to the deal since Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-era multinational pact. 

Iran said earlier this month that it would be further ending commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal  after Trump ordered a drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. 

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif reportedly threatened to withdraw from the global Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was signed in 1968, if Britain, France and Germany refer Tehran to the United Nations Security Council over alleged violations of the 2015 nuclear agreement.