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Iran not seeking tensions with U.S.: FM

Xinhua, April 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that his country is not seeking any tension with the new U.S. President Donald Trump, Tehran Times daily reported on Monday.

"The (Islamic) establishment in its entirety has reached the conclusion that we shouldn't give them (the Americans) any excuse," Zarif said, adding that "we don't seek tension."

While Trump's harsh tone on the Iranian nuclear deal has softened significantly from "ripping up" it to "police" it, some regional actors, notably Israel, are ratcheting up pressure on the U.S. government to adopt policies which force Iran to pull out of the deal, Zarif was quoted as saying.

"They (some regional countries) don't want the United States to contravene the deal, also known as JCPOA," he said.

"Instead they want to steer the U.S. into adopting policies which leave us with no choice but to contravene it."

Trump had said during his presidential campaigns that he would scrap the nuclear deal, reached in July 2015, describing it as "the worst deal ever negotiated." Endit