Iran slams US for sticking to Trump’s ‘failed policy’

TEHRAN: Iran hit out on Thursday at the United States for sticking to what it called former president Donald Trump’s "failed policy", saying such an approach would fail to salvage a nuclear deal.

"US claims it favours diplomacy; not Trump’s failed policy of ‘maximum pressure’," Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter. "Yet (US Secretary of State Antony Blinken) boasts abt blocking Korea from transferring our own money to the Swiss Channel -- only used for food & meds," he added.

Zarif’s comments came hours after Blinken signalled US opposition to the release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds from South Korea unless the Islamic republic returns to full compliance with the nuclear accord.

South Korea had said last month it agreed on a way forward to release billion of dollars frozen from Iran’s oil sales but was awaiting Washington’s approval. US President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump at the ballot box in November, has signalled his readiness to revive the deal that has been largely left in tatters by his predecessor’s decision to withdraw from it in 2018.