Officials in Tehran voiced concern on Wednesday over the future of the nuclear deal between Iran and major international powers after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was sacked and replaced by Mike Pompeo, who is known for his tough line towards Tehran. Iran’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi said that US President Donald Trump’s decision to replace Tillerson came within the framework of Washington’s withdrawal from the nuclear agreement. Araghchi noted that Tehran was likely to abandon the deal, among other scenarios, should European countries failed to keep the US within the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Iranian official discussed on Wednesday the repercussions of Tillerson’s removal from his post on the future of the nuclear deal at an emergency meeting held upon the request of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee in parliament and attended by Assistant Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Jaberi Ansari. Araghchi revealed a European-American move on the nuclear deal during the past few days, pointing out that European countries were seeking to convince the US Administration to maintain the agreement, but the results of those endeavors were not clear yet. He also underlined European attempts to persuade the US Administration to adhere to the agreement for eight years and to later launch new negotiations with Tehran, which Araghchi considered a violation to the JCPOA. The Iranian official presented Tehran’s stance on the US demands, emphasizing Trump’s insistence on the inclusion of the issue of ballistic missiles in the nuclear agreement. “They have tried to introduce the issue of missiles into nuclear negotiations, but this is a red line for us,” he said. Araghchi said that his country was facing several scenarios, the first being the withdrawal of the US Administration from the nuclear deal, which he said was very likely to happen. “We will have two possible directions in the event of the withdrawal of the US from the nuclear agreement; the first is maintaining the deal without the US, or Iran exiting the deal, which means the end [of the JCPOA),” he noted. “We say if the US abandons the nuclear agreement, we will also abandon it; we told the Europeans that if they did not convince the US to save the agreement, Iran will leave the deal,” the Iranian official stressed.