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SCMP Editorial

The decision by United States President Donald Trump to pull his country from the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions is reckless and dangerous.
He called the agreement with China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany “decaying and rotten”, yet it has proven effective in preventing Tehran from producing material to make bombs.
China voices support for Iran nuclear deal after US walks away
With the stroke of a pen, he has ignored the calls of the international community and embarked on a potentially disastrous course with wide-ranging consequences for the Middle East, Washington’s relations with Europe and perhaps even upcoming landmark talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.


But there is still a glimmer of hope that the American leader will see reason; there are 90 and 180-day wind-down periods before the two sets of economic and financial measures take effect.
Trump is right in contending that the deal signed in 2015 is problematic. Restrictions on Iran’s enrichment of nuclear material expire after 15 years and the pact permits the continued development and testing of ballistic missiles.
Tehran argues that a long-standing pledge not to produce nuclear weapons is shown by a commitment to abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which it is a signatory.
Iran’s supreme leader attacks Trump for quitting nuclear deal
But if that promise was to be trusted, there would never have been a need for the agreement in the first place and doubts about its true intentions have been cast by a relentless pursuit of sophisticated rockets, integral to an atomic arms programme.
Washington’s partners in the deal recognise the shortcomings and have been urging Trump to work with them on making improvements.

But he seemingly cannot be swayed and last week backed a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long been lobbying Trump to walk away from the pact, that a cache of stolen documents showed Iran was not fulfilling its obligations.
Netanyahu celebrates personal victory on Iran nuclear deal
International nuclear inspectors contend otherwise, having verified 10 times, the latest in February, that the country is in full compliance.
Scrapping the agreement would have serious consequences. It would undermine the moderate government of Iranian President Hassan Rowhani, who although pledging to find ways to keep the deal in place, has also ordered Iran’s atomic energy agency to get ready to resume enrichment on an industrial scale.
That would risk sparking an arms race with rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia. The possibility of the US forging a meaningful agreement with North Korea would also be put in doubt; Kim would have good reason to question Trump’s sincerity.
There are ways of strengthening the pact without tearing it up. To ignore what it has achieved would increase instability in the Middle East and imperil future deals and cooperation.


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Donald Trump

Dangerous, reckless decision by Donald Trump to pull US from pact

US President Donald Trump walks off after delivering a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Tuesday. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a meeting with Muslim leaders and scholars in Hyderabad, India, February 15, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo

China backs Iran nuclear deal as United States walks away, but could it be a costly decision?

A woman walks past a mural on the wall of the former US embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

President Donald Trump signs a Presidential Memorandum on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 8, 2018, in Washington. Trump says the United States is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, which he called "defective at its core." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE PHOTO: The People's Republic of China flag and the U.S. Stars and Stripes fly on a lamp post along Pennsylvania Avenue near the U.S. Capitol during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit, in Washington, D.C.,U.S., January 18, 2011. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang/File Photo

Why Iran nuclear deal fallout could scuttle China’s Middle East ambitions 

Gone are the days when China could comfortably weave its diplomatic web across the Middle East under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action umbrella, with the US expected to pull out of the nuclear deal soon. Illustration: Craig Stephens

FILE PHOTO: Chinese construction workers work during a media tour of the construction of a new port in the southern city of Ashdod, Israel April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

A picture provided by the Iranian Presidency on January 23, 2016, shows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) ahead of a meeting in Tehran. / AFP / IRANIAN PRESIDENCY / HO / === RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / IRANIAN PRESIDENCY / HO" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ===

Donald Trump says US will withdraw from ‘rotten’ Iranian deal – while Iran agrees to stay but threatens further nuclear efforts if negotiations fail

Iran has said it will remain in the deal with other signatories, but added that if negotiations fail, it will enrich uranium ‘more than before … in next weeks’

FILE - In this June 9, 2010 file photo, U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement about Iran in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington. President Donald Trump is weighing whether to pull the U.S. out of Iran's nuclear deal, a 2015 agreement that capped over a decade of hostility between Tehran and the West over its atomic program. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 7, 2017 (L-R) French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump confer at the start of the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, northern Germany. A year after his march to power, French President Emmanuel Macron's reformist zeal has endeared him to part of the electorate but polls show him as still unloved by most of the country. Macron suffered a sharp drop in popularity when he began to push through changes to labour law last September that make hiring and firing easier. / AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO AND POOL / John MACDOUGALL

A picture taken in Jerusalem of a with TV screen shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivering a televised speech after the US President announced his decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, on May 8, 2018. Netanyahu expressed his strong support for US President Donald Trump's "bold" decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which the Israeli leader has repeatedly criticised. / AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX

FILE - In this July 14, 2015 file photo, Iranians celebrate following a landmark nuclear deal in Tehran, Iran. Iran's nuclear deal with world powers faces its biggest diplomatic challenge yet as President Donald Trump appears poised to withdraw the U.S. from the accord. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE - In this July 14, 2015 file-pool photo, from left to right: European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pose for a group picture at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria. President Donald Trump is weighing whether to pull the U.S. out of Iran's nuclear deal, a 2015 agreement that capped over a decade of hostility between Tehran and the West over its atomic program. (Joe Klamar/Pool Photo via AP, File)

epa06697505 President of the European Council Donald Tusk speaks during a press conference in Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), 27 April 2018. Balkans presidents, accompanied by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and President of the European Council Donald Tusk, attended the leaders meeting of the Brdo-Brijuni process in Skopje. EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

US President Donald Trump signing a proclamation declaring his intention to withdraw from the JCPOA Iran nuclear agreement in the Diplomatic Room at the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Opinion

Although far from perfect, the Iran nuclear deal was shown to be working, and actions by the White House now put landmark talks with North Korea at risk and threaten greater instability in the Middle East


Iran

United States