Kerry: Iran vow to defy US is ‘very disturbing’

In this June 30 file-pool photo, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz sits with Secretary of State John Kerry and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Vienna. (Photo: AP)

July 21, 2015, Tuesday/ TEHRAN

US Secretary of State John Kerry said a speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday vowing to defy American policies in the region despite a deal with world powers over Tehran's nuclear program was "very disturbing".

"I don't know how to interpret it at this point in time, except to take it at face value, that that's his policy," he said in the interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, parts of which the network quoted on Tuesday.

"But I do know that often comments are made publicly and things can evolve that are different. If it is the policy, it's very disturbing, it's very troubling," he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei told supporters on Saturday that US policies in the region were "180 degrees" opposed to Iran's, at a speech in a Tehran mosque punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."

"Even after this deal our policy toward the arrogant US will not change," Khamenei said.

Several Gulf Arab states have long accused Tehran of interference, alleging financial or armed support for political movements in countries including Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon.

Kerry said the US believed its Arab allies had the ability to confront Iranian interference in the region.

"I think President Obama's belief and our military assessments, our intelligence assessments, are that if they organize themselves correctly, all of the Arab states have an untapped potential that is very, very significant to be able to push back against any of these activities," he said.

Zarif defends nuclear deal

Meanwhile in Tehran, the Iranian foreign minister defended the nuclear deal he reached with world powers after criticism from hard-liners, telling the conservative-dominated parliament on Tuesday that most if not all of the country's conditions had been respected.

"We don't say the deal is totally in favor of Iran. Any negotiation is a give and take. We have definitely shown some flexibility," the minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif said.

"I tell you as I told the Supreme leader, we did our best to preserve most of the red lines, if not all," Zarif said, referring to arch-conservative cleric Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all high matters of state.

Under the historic accord reached in Vienna last week, Iran will be subjected to long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West suspected was aimed at creating an atomic bomb but which Tehran says is peaceful. In return US, European Union and UN sanctions on Iran will be lifted.

The deal must still be approved by Iran's National Security Council and ultimately by Khamenei.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards and hardliners have started to attack the deal and have also hit out at a UN Security Council resolution passed on Monday endorsing it.

They have in particular taken aim at provisions in the resolution that leave in place restrictions on Iran's development of ballistic missiles and foreign arms purchases.

Khamenei has so far withheld a clear verdict on the deal, but said on Saturday he would not let the deal be "abused" or endanger "Iran's security and defense capabilities."

Speaking before a crowd that chanted "Death to America," he also said the deal would not change Iran's anti-Western foreign policy.

Zarif told lawmakers the UN resolution restricted development of missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads, saying this would not affect the country's missile program as Iran does not have a nuclear missile program.

Hardliners in Iran may be trying to persuade Khamenei to block the deal by presenting it as having violated "red lines" set by Khamenei himself.

The top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said on Monday, according to Tasnim news agency: "Some parts of the [resolution] draft have clearly crossed the republic's red lines, especially towards Iran's military capabilities."

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N. Korea not interested in Iran-like nuclear deal

(SEOUL, AP)

North Korea said Tuesday that it's not interested in an Iran-type nuclear disarmament deal, saying it won't abandon its atomic weapons as long as the United States maintains hostile policies toward the country.

The North's nuclear deterrent is "not a plaything to be put on the negotiating table," an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. It was the country's first official response to the Iran nuclear accord reached earlier this month.

North Korea's nuclear program is a major regional concern, with the country having conducted atomic weapons tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. International nuclear disarmament talks have been stalled since early 2009, and outside analysts believe the North has built a small but growing nuclear bomb arsenal.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said North Korea is different from Iran because it already has nuclear weapons. He said the North faces constant military and nuclear threats from the US, citing its regular military exercises with South Korea.

North Korea "is not interested at all in the dialogue to discuss the issue of making it freeze or dismantle its nukes unilaterally first," he said, adding that the North "remains unchanged in the mission of its nuclear force as long as the US continues pursuing its hostile policy toward" the country.

The US stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression from North Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.