President Donald Trump on Tuesday pulled the United States out of the 2015 international agreement aimed at restraining Iran’s nuclear program, contending that it is a “disastrous” pact that won’t keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and endangering the world.
The U.S. leader said he is reimposing the “highest levels of economic sanctions” on Iran. Trump said he was open to working with its European allies to negotiate a new deal with the Islamic Republic to curb its ballistic missile tests and military advances in Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere in the Mideast, although Tehran has already declared it is not interested in forging a new accord.
Trump, in a short address at the White House, called the agreement championed by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, “decaying and rotten.”
Watch Trump’s remarks
He said it was “a giant fiction” that Iran only wants to develop its nuclear program for peaceful purposes. “The Iran promise was a lie,” Trump asserted.
In abrogating the deal, Trump lived up campaign vows he made in his 2016 run to the White House. But in doing so, he also rejected pleas from three of the U.S.’s closest allies — Britain, France and Germany — to stay in the deal, which also included China and Russia.
“When I make promises, I keep them,” Trump said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet, “France, Germany, and the UK regret the U.S. decision to leave the JCPOA. The nuclear non-proliferation regime is at stake.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has certified 10 times that Iran is complying with the deal. The European Commission said Tuesday that “the agreement is working and our commitment to continue with implementation remains.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran will remain in the deal without Washington.
Hours ahead of his announcement, Trump for the second consecutive day assailed former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, one of the chief architects of the agreement between Iran and the six international powers. Kerry met recently with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in an effort to save the pact.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]”John Kerry can’t get over the fact that he had his chance and blew it!” Trump said on Twitter. “Stay away from negotiations John, you are hurting your country!”
A day earlier, Trump said, “The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!”
The three-year-old agreement called for lifting sanctions on Iran that had hobbled its economy in exchange for Iran restraining its nuclear program, which Iran has claimed was for peaceful purposes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long criticized the deal and in Trump found an ally with similar views.
Among Trump’s chief objections are a lack of provisions addressing Iran’s ballistic missile activity and the fact that Iran’s responsibilities, such as limiting its uranium enrichment, expire after a set number of years.
In his speech, Trump said the current deal would leave Tehran “on the cusp” of a “nuclear breakout.”
The text of the document, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, states in multiple places that Iran would treat the reinstatement of sanctions.
Source: VOA
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