Political analysts were expecting that the hardliners would push Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian President, to follow suit after the United States’ president Donald Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Nevertheless, it seems that the moderate president had to strike back on his own in the aftermath of the sanctions that the US had imposed on Iran and the threats that US issued to the countries that were enjoying the US waivers.

President Rouhani is seeking to strike a delicate balance. Rouhani was left with no other option but to pull back from some parts of the deal. For the US president, Donald Trump has left no stone unturned, so far, to bring the Iranian regime to its knees. The Trump administration wants challenger neither for the US nor to its allies in the Middle East (ME).

Seeing Iran as a country that carries the potential to undermine the interests of the US and its allies forced Trump to undermine the nuclear deal. However, the Trump regime was not content with that; it also went a step further by making sure that all other states also stopped doing business with Iran. And now that the US has deployed an aircraft carrier to the ME to send a clear and unmistakable message to Iran, Mr Rouhani had no other option but to play bluff.

Rouhani’s suspending two parts of the deal is Iran’s response to Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” under which the US has decided not to extend waivers to eight nations, including China, India and Turkey. Iran by suspending the two sections of the deal has given an ultimatum to the remaining parties to pressurise the US to refrain from making the economic situation more difficult for Tehran. The situation must not escalate to a point where sanctions and enrichment are resumed as it will be a lose-lose situation for all.