Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani suggested Saturday that the Islamic Republic could hold a public referendum over the country’s nuclear program amid tensions with the United States, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Rouhani said he previously suggested a referendum to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2004, when he was a senior nuclear negotiator.
Such a referendum could provide political cover for the Iranian government if it chooses to increase its enrichment of uranium, prohibited under the 2015 deal with world powers.
US President Donald Trump pulled the country out of the deal last year. In recent weeks, tensions between the US and Iran have risen over America deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region over a still-unexplained threat it perceives from Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday a US decision to deploy 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East was “a threat to global peace and stability.”
“Increased US presence in our region is very dangerous and a threat to global peace and stability and must be confronted,” Zarif told the official IRNA news agency before heading home from a visit to Pakistan.
Washington says the reinforcements are in response to a “campaign” of recent attacks approved by Iran’s top leadership.
Meanwhile a top Iranian military commander warned Saturday that the country would employ “secret weapons” to destroy American Naval forces in the Persian Gulf if they initiate hostilities.