‘Not negotiable’: Rouhani rules out putting Iran’s missile program on the table, says Biden ‘well aware’ of Tehran’s stance

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that his country will not negotiate its missile program, and that Joe Biden “well knows” Tehran already rejected US plans to add the issue to the nuclear talks.

Projected US President-elect Biden may try to return to the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers before wider talks that could include Iran’s ballistic missiles, but Rouhani said on Monday that Tehran will not accept any preconditions.

He also noted that he has not heard from Biden that the US would seek another deal with Iran, if it is to return to its commitments within the 2015 nuclear accord, or the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“The JCPOA is not negotiable, whether all parties implement the deal we already have or no one implements it,” Rouhani said.

Missile and regional issues have nothing to do with the JCPOA. The Americans argued for months to include [Iran’s] missiles in the negotiations and we rejected it. Or they tried to raise regional issues, but we didn’t agree.

“Trump was unaware of these [talks], but Biden well knows what has been raised in the [2015] negotiations,” Rouhani noted. “These are not negotiable. What’s on the table is that all parties return to their commitments.”

Rouhani also said that Iran has suffered huge damage because of US sanctions in the past three years, but Tehran will not use the issue of compensation as a precondition in any talks.

President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear pact in 2018, reimposing a range of sanctions on the country, but Biden has proposed offering Iran a “credible path back to diplomacy.”

Tehran had earlier ruled out halting its missile program or changing its regional policy.

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