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ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Wednesday supported Iran against the United States President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the historic nuclear deal.

A foreign ministry statement issued here said ‘arbitrarily rescinding’ such agreements “will undermine confidence in the value of dialogue and diplomacy in the conduct of international relations and the peaceful resolution of disputes.”

Pakistan, the statement said: “believes that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action represents a very good example of a negotiated settlement of complex issues, through dialogue and diplomacy.”

“We had welcomed the JCPOA when it was concluded and hope that all parties will find a way for its continuation, especially when the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly verified Iran’s compliance,” it said.

On May 8, President Trump walked out of the agreement calling JCPOA a ‘horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.’ Trump said he would work to find a ‘real comprehensive and lasting’ deal to tackle not only the Iranian nuclear program but its ballistic missile tests and activities across the Middle East. The US President warned that his country would re-impose economic sanctions that were waived when the deal was signed in 2015.

The sanctions would target industries mentioned in the deal, including Iran’s oil sector, aircraft manufacturers exporting to Iran and Iranian government attempts to buy US dollar banknotes. This is expected to hit major European and US companies. Some exemptions are due to be negotiated.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said the European companies doing business in Iran will stop their activities within six months or they will have to face US sanctions.

The deal was agreed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia - plus Germany. It was struck by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama. The other member countries have not yet seconded Trump’s decision.

After Trump’s decision, Iran said it would try to salvage the agreement but would restart uranium enrichment if it failed.

In a statement, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said: “If we achieve the deal's goals in co-operation with other members of the deal, it will remain in place.” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he did not trust the UK, France or Germany, and would need guarantees before continuing the nuclear deal.

Under JCPOA, Iran had agreed to limit the size of its stockpile of enriched uranium - used to make reactor fuel and nuclear weapons - for 15 years and the number of centrifuges installed to enrich uranium for 10 years. Tehran also agreed to modify a heavy water facility so that it could not produce plutonium suitable for a bomb. In return, sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the US and the European Union were lifted. These sanctions had crippled Iran’s economy.

The foreign ministry statement said: “We have noted the willingness of the parties to the Agreement to work together on upholding their respective commitments as stipulated in the JCPOA, despite US decision to withdraw from it.”

It added: “Pakistan believes that International Treaties and Agreements concluded through painstaking negotiations are sacrosanct.”

Press attaché at the Iranian embassy Abbas Badrifar said since Trump assumed power in the US, “we have witnessed unusual and abnormal steps by him, which surprised the world.”

Trump approach, he said, has been “an approach based on aggression, arrogance and bullying and it may be said explicitly that decisions and policies adopted by American government after his presidency had been against the interests of the nations of the world in general and in contrast to the Islamic world in particular.”