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’
US President Donald Trump has announced that America will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, calling it a “decaying and rotten structure … defective at its core” and accusing the nation of being “the leading sponsor of terror” in the region.
Instead, he said, he would reimpose sanctions on Iran that had been lifted in exchange for the country ceasing its nuclear development programme. The sanctions include restrictions on the country’s oil sector and metals trade.
Following Trump’s announcement, Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said on state television that the country would remain in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) along with the other signatories. However, he said, if further negotiations fail, Iran will enrich uranium ‘more than before … in next weeks’.
The US Treasury said on its website that it would reimpose a wide range of Iran-related sanctions after the expiration of 90- and 180-day wind-down periods. Among the sanctions’ targets are Iran’s central bank, aircraft exports to the country, its metals trade and its attempts to acquire US dollars.
In announcing America’s departure from the deal, Trump complained that the JCPOA did not restrict Iran’s ballistic missile programme – which was not included in the 2015 agreement – its nuclear activities beyond 2025 nor its role in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.
“The fact is this was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never ever been made,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It didn’t bring calm. It didn’t bring peace. And it never will.”
He added: “We cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. The Iran deal is defective at its core.”