Mohammad Javad Zarif
Mohammad Javad ZarifReuters

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, threatened on Wednesday that the country will expand its nuclear program if the United States doesn’t take a “new approach” toward the Iranian nuclear program, reports the Washington Examiner.

In a speech released on Twitter, Zarif railed against US sanctions targeting the regime and menaced further expansion of Iran’s nuclear program.

“Donald Trump betted on the myth that Iran is a nation that can be forced to choose between collapse and submission. We have all seen the outcome of that bet,” he said.

Zarif said Trump was the seventh consecutive US president “who has made and lost the exact same wager,” in reference to pressure from sanctions.

With the Biden administration, he said there “is an opportunity to try a new approach, but the current window is fleeting.”

Trump withdrew from the 2015 agreement nearly three years ago and reimposed sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic, in turn, has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal.

President Joe Biden has expressed a desire to return to the 2015 agreement but has stressed he would return to the 2015 agreement if Iran returned to compliance with it.

Iran has repeatedly made clear that it will not renegotiate the original agreement.

The Islamic Republic also demands that the US lift the sanctions that were imposed on it. Biden, however, made clear this week that the US will not lift its sanctions on Tehran until Iran freezes its uranium enrichment.

On Tuesday, Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Mahmoud Alavi, warned the West that his country could push for a nuclear weapon if the international sanctions on Tehran remain in place.

“Our nuclear program is peaceful and the fatwa by the Supreme Leader has forbidden nuclear weapons, but if they push Iran in that direction, then it wouldn’t be Iran’s fault but those who pushed it,” said Alavi.