Iran’s top diplomat has issued a stark warning to Donald Trump that if he follows through on his threat to scrap the 2015 nuclear agreement in three weeks’ time he will have to “face the consequences” that will not be “pleasant” for the United States.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, painted a bleak picture of the prospects for survival of the nuclear deal, which Trump has threatened to tear up on 12 May by refusing to waive a set of sanctions – a move that is integral to the agreement. Zarif indicated that should the US effectively pull out, Iran would refuse to stay inside the deal alongside the Europeans, calling that option “highly unlikely”.

An option actively being considered by Tehran, by contrast, was to withdraw entirely from the deal by returning to uranium enrichment. Other proposals being floated in the Iranian parliament, Zarif said, involved more “drastic” measures – though he would not specify what those entailed. In an interview with reporters at an Iranian official residence overlooking New York’s Central Park, Zarif said that the Trump administration had the “option to kill the deal, but they have to face the consequences … We will make our decision based on our national security interest when the time comes, but whatever it is it will not be very pleasant for the United States, I can say that.”(theguardian)…[+]