text: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, on Wednesday reportedly said his nation will “shred” the nuclear accord should the United States get rid of the agreement. 
   
   “I don’t want to waste my time on answering the rants and whoppers of the brute (U.S.) president,” the supreme leader said, as reported by Reuters, which cited Iran’s state television. 
   
   “Trump’s stupidity should not distract us from America’s deceitfulness. ... If the U.S. tears up the deal, we will shred it,” he said. 
   
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   Khamenei’s comments come after last week announced that he would not recertify Iran’s compliance in the accord, though he did not pull out of the pact, which provided Tehran with sanctions relief in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program. The decision allows Congress 60 days to reinstate sanctions on Iran, though Trump in the announcement did not call on lawmakers to do so. 
   
   The supreme leader also called on allies in Europe to “stand against” the U.S. decision. 
   
   “European states stressed their backing for the deal and condemned Trump ... We welcomed this, but it is not enough to ask Trump not to rip up the agreement. Europe needs to stand against practical measures (taken) by America,” he said. ||||| In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks at a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Khamenei... (Associated Press) 
   
   In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks at a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. Khamenei on Wednesday urged Europe to do more to back the 2015 nuclear deal after President Donald Trump refused... (Associated Press) 
   
   TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday urged Europe to do more to back the 2015 nuclear deal after President Donald Trump refused to re-certify the pact. 
   
   European companies have rushed into the Iranian markets since the landmark accord, which lifted international sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program. 
   
   "The European governments have underlined the nuclear deal's issue and condemned the U.S. president's remarks," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, according to comments posted on his official website. "We welcome this approach but it is not enough that they only tell him not to tear up the deal." 
   
   "The nuclear deal is to their benefit", Khamenei said. 
   
   Khamenei also said of Trump: "I will not spend time responding to the nonsensical comments by the foul-mouthed president." He also referred to Trump and his administration as being "mentally retarded." 
   
   He warned that if the U.S. scuttles the deal, "we will shred it into pieces." 
   
   Khamenei's comments show the supreme leader's hope that he can leverage European business interests into protecting the nuclear deal. The supreme leader wants to ensure that Iran continues to have access to the international market for its crude oil as part of efforts to revive its stagnant economy. 
   
   Since the nuclear accord, European aviation consortium Airbus has signed billions of dollars in sales agreements with Iran. France's Total SA and state-run China National Petroleum Corporation signed a $5 billion agreement with Iran to develop the country's massive offshore natural gas field. And French automobile manufacturer Groupe Renault signed a $778 million deal. 
   
   Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union — the other parties to the nuclear accord — all have been telling Trump's administration to stay in the deal. 
   
   Trump's refusal last week to re-certify the agreement has sparked a new war of words between Iran and the United States, fueling growing mistrust and a sense of nationalism among Iranians. Trump also criticized Europeans for their participation in Iran's energy projects. 
   
   Trump has yet to announce a withdrawal from the pact, instead kicking it to Congress for a decision. ||||| Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responds to US president decertifying nuclear deal, saying Tehran will not violate agreement first 
   
   Iran’s supreme leader has said his country will not take heed of “rants and whoppers of a foul-throated US president”, in a speech that also made clear that Tehran will not be the first to violate the nuclear deal. 
   
   Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first reaction since Donald Trump decertified the Iran deal, said on Wednesday that “we will not tear up the nuclear deal so long as the other side has not torn it up, but if they do, we will cut it in pieces”. 
   
   The 78-year-old ayatollah told a gathering of students in Tehran that the US was angry because Iran had foiled its plots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt. 
   
   “I don’t want to waste our time to respond to the rants and whoppers of the foul-throated president of the United States,” he said, according to the transcript of his speech posted on his official website. 
   
   “The US is the agent of the international Zionism, it was the US that created Daesh [Arabic acronym for Islamic State] and Takfiri movements [Iran’s terminology for Sunni extremist groups].” 
   
   Khamenei said the US was infuriated by Iran’s role in fighting Isis. “They are angry because the Islamic Republic has foiled their plots in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Egypt,” he said. 
   
   “Everyone should know that once again America will receive a slap in its mouth and will be defeated by the people of Iran.” 
   
   
   
   Khamenei was reacting to Trump’s vituperative speech on Friday, during which he announced he was decertifying Tehran’s compliance under the nuclear accord, a move that could lead to the end of the agreement. 
   
   “Based on the factual record I have put forward, I am announcing today that we cannot and will not make this certification. We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout,” Trump said at the White House. 
   
   Despite Trump’s move, European states involved in two years of negotiations that led to the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action, has remained adamant that the agreement should remain in force. 
   
   The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said this week that she would be travelling to Washington in November to reiterate Europe’s message on the deal. High-level officials from the EU have been lobbying the US Congress to preserve the deal. 
   
   Trump said this week that terminating the deal was a “very real possibility” and that Iranian leaders had a “very modified” tone in their reaction to his speech. 
   
   His decision does not immediately mean that the agreement is in jeopardy. He has asked Congress to add a series of amendments to the deal for a more stringent implementation. 
   
   Iran and Europe have said renegotiating was not possible and that the agreement was multilateral and the US could not unilaterally change it. But the US’s influence over the financial market limits European leverage. 
   
   “The European governments have affirmed [their stance] on the agreement and have condemned the statement made by the American president,” Khamenei said. 
   
   “We welcome this but it is not enough for [Europe] just to say that they will not tear it up. The nuclear agreement is in their interest. Europe should stand up against [US’s] practical measures and they should refrain commenting about our defensive capabilities,” he said referring to EU’s repeated concerns over Tehran’s missile programme.
target: – If President Trump thinks the Iran nuclear deal should be scrapped, the ayatollah seems happy to oblige. "If the US tears up the deal, we will shred it," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday in a speech to students, per Reuters. He was referring to President Trump's decision last week not to recertify the deal struck under the Obama administration. Trump's move doesn't mean the US is withdrawing—instead he essentially turned that decision over to Congress. In his own speech, Khamenei unleashed a torrent of criticism against Trump. "I don't want to waste our time to respond to the rants and whoppers of the foul-throated president of the United States," the Guardian quotes him as saying. (Translations differ slightly in various accounts.) "Everyone should know that once again America will receive a slap in its mouth and will be defeated by the people of Iran." The AP's account has the ayatollah referring to the Trump administration as "mentally retarded." Other nations are part of the nuclear accord, but Khamenei suggested that a US withdrawal would effectively kill it. And he seemed to be urging other parties, especially in Europe, to stand up to the US. "European states stressed their backing for the deal and condemned Trump," he said, per the Hill. "We welcomed this, but it is not enough to ask Trump not to rip up the agreement. Europe needs to stand against practical measures (taken) by America." The next big move may be up to Congress, which has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were lifted by the agreement.