Donald Trump says he will announce decision on Iran nuclear deal Tuesday
Trump has long criticised the deal, promising during and after his campaign that he would tear it up
President Donald Trump said in a tweet that he will announce whether the US will remain in the Iran nuclear accord on Tuesday at 2:00pm in Washington.
Trump has long criticised the deal – brokered by the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany – promising during and after his campaign that he would tear it up.
His new national security adviser, John Bolton, is also a major opponent.
But Trump has held off killing the deal during past opportunities, giving European allies a chance to toughen it up.
The leaders of France and Germany were the latest to appeal to Trump during visits to the White House last month in which they urged him to keep the US in the deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron said after meeting with Trump last month that he expects the US to exit the deal.
Trump has kept up his criticism of the agreement. On Monday he denounced former Secretary of State John Kerry’s back-channel attempts to save the deal in a separate Monday tweet.
“The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!”
Trump has several options, in addition to tearing the deal up and staying in. He could also choose to continue discussions to rework the deal. Or he could decline to recertify the deal without formally pulling out.
