'If US rips up nuclear deal, Iran will tear it into shreds'

Tehran: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Tehran would stick to its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as long as the other signatories respected it, but would "shred it" if the United States pulled out, media reports said.

Ayatollah Khamenei spoke five days after U.S. President Donald Trump adopted a harsh new approach to Iran by refusing to certify its compliance with the deal, reached under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, and saying he might ultimately terminate it.

The move put Washington at odds with other parties to the accord -- Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union -- who say Washington cannot unilaterally cancel a multilateral accord enshrined by a U.N. resolution.

Iran's highest authority, welcomed their support but said it was not sufficient. "Europe must stand against practical measures (taken) by America," he said. If Trump ditched the deal, "Iran will shred it."

"But this is not enough for them (EU) to say that he (Trump) should not tear up the JCPOA. The JCPOA serves their interests. As long as the other party has not torn up the JCPOA, we will not tear it up," said the Leader, warning that Iran will rip the deal into shreds if the other side decides to tear it up.

Iranian leader censured any political reliance on foreign powers, adding "a hundred years ago, there were some people who would say that the path toward progress is through reliance on the West, and today the remainders of that school of thought are promoting the same idea. We were under the influence of the West for fifty years of the Pahlavi period. What progress did we make?"

"The Islamic Revolution rid the country of political dependence, but breaking away from other dependencies will prove to be difficult," the Leader said. "Dependency causes calamity. One of the key elements to free the country from dependency is scientific advances."

"We managed to cut off America's dominance over Iran, become powerful and make great progress despite the US' hostile measures; all of this progress was achieved under the pressure of sanctions," he added.

The Iranian leader went on to maintain that he would not spend time on responding to the nonsensical remarks of the US President Trump, adding "the US is an agent to the international Zionism. They have created ISIL and the Takfiri terrorism. Then how can you expect Washington not to be angered at the country which is fighting ISIL?"

"The US is angry because the Islamic Republic of Iran has managed to thwart their plots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, etc.," he added.

Iranian leader stressed that the US would once again taste defeat at the hands of the Iranian nation, and warned the nation not to get sidetracked from US' sinister schemes by Donald Trump's display of ignorance and ineptitude.

Leader also said Iran was determined to continue its ballistic missile program despite the pressure from Europe and the United States to suspend it. Tehran has said it is developing missiles solely for defensive purposes.

"They must avoid interfering in our defense program, " he said. "They (Europeans) ask why does Iran have missiles? Why do you have missiles yourselves? Why do you have nuclear weapons? We do not think it is acceptable for the Europeans to join America in its bullying."