Senior Iranian diplomat: US is serious about killing nuclear deal

Kamal Kharrazi, the head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, says the US government is serious about damaging the nuclear deal. In an interview with the semi-official ISNA news agency, Kharrazi, who served as foreign minister under Reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), said Sept. 12 that the Europeans would resist the US government’s attempts to kill the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries (United States, France, United Kingdom, China, Russia and Germany) in 2015.

The Strategic Council on Foreign Relations was formed on the order of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2006. It is tasked with preparing strategies and policies that will further Iran’s foreign policy objectives. Kharrazi serves alongside fellow former minister Ali Akbar Velayati as a key foreign policy adviser to Ayatollah Khamenei.