Iran: U.S. mischaracterized deal on nuclear program

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The United States has improperly described Iran's commitments in an interim nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday.

Zarif said the manner in which the White House has described the agreement differs from the text agreed to by Iran and other countries, CNN reported in an exclusive interview.

He told CNN Iran "did not agree to dismantle anything."

"The White House version both underplays the concessions and overplays Iranian commitments" in the agreement. Zarif said.

A White House fact sheet issued after the agreement said Iran would have to dilute its stockpile of uranium that had been enriched to 20 percent. Iran also was mandated to halt all enrichment above 5 percent and "dismantle the technical connections required to enrich above 5 percent."

The 5 percent enrichment level is enough to generate electric power, but not enough to create nuclear weapons.

Speaking from Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, Zarif said the White House language "tries to portray it as basically a dismantling of Iran's nuclear program. That is the word they use time and again. If you find a single, a single word, that even closely resembles dismantling or could be defined as dismantling in the entire text, then I would take back my comment."

Responding to Zarif's comment, a White House official said, "we expected that the Iranians would need to spin this for their domestic political purposes, and are not surprised they are doing just that."

A statement by the White House last week did not use the word dismantle.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday his government would not destroy any centrifuges but that "we are ready to provide confidence that there should be no concern about Iran's program."