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President Trump on Tuesday pulled the US out of the Iranian nuclear deal despite warnings that it could ratchet up tensions in the volatile region and make it easier for the mad mullahs to develop nuclear weapons.
“The Iranian regime is the leading state sponsors of terror,” Trump said, accusing the regime of supporting terrorists throughout the region.
“In 2015 the previous administration joined with other nations in a deal on Iran’s nuclear program. The theory was supposed to protect the US and its allies from the lunacy of an Iranian nuclear bomb,” the president said at the White House, reading from a Teleprompter.
“The fact is this was a horrible, one-sided deal that should never, never have been made,” he added.
“The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we’ll know exactly what will happen. Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.”
He also said he would institute “the highest level of economic sanctions.”
Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron earlier Tuesday morning that he would announce the withdrawal and reinstate all sanctions that had been waived as part of the 2015 nuclear accord and impose additional economic penalties.
Talks to keep the accord intact collapsed over the president’s insistence that sharp limits be kept on Iran’s nuclear fuel production after 2030.
The current agreement — which Trump has called “insane” and “the worst deal ever” — removes those limits.
Trump’s decision means Iran’s government must now decide whether to follow the US and withdraw or try to salvage what’s left of the deal. Iran has offered conflicting statements about what it may do — and the answer may depend on exactly how Trump exits the agreement.
The decision came after senior White House officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had said in recent weeks that there is no evidence that Iran breached the deal.
“I’ve seen no evidence that they are not in compliance,” Pompeo told the Senate recently.
Trump was facing a Saturday deadline to make a decision.
The president’s decision — which will unravel former President Barack Obama’s signature foreign-policy achievement — has been long anticipated.
It will likely cause US relations with its European allies, which have committed to sticking with the accord, to plunge into deep uncertainty.
Trump’s decision — which also raises the likelihood of heightened tensions with Russia and China — fulfills one of his campaign promises.
The move risked increasing tensions in a region with several ongoing wars, including the multi-layered conflict in Syria, where Iran’s presence has brought it into conflict with Israel.
If the deal — formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — collapses, Iran would be free to resume prohibited enrichment activities, while businesses and banks doing business with Iran would have to scramble to extricate themselves or run afoul of the US. As they braced for an expected withdrawal, US officials were dusting off plans for how to sell a pullout to the public and explain its complex financial ramifications, officials and other sources told Reuters.
A senior Western diplomat said France, Britain and Germany — also parties to the accord — were working on the assumption that the US would take a hardline stance after a call last week between Pompeo and European officials in which he made clear that talks on rescuing the deal would not go further.
“He let it be known that it was over,” the diplomat said.
Iran’s president on Tuesday warned the country could face “some problems,” just hours before Trump made his announcement.
Without directly naming Trump, Hassan Rouhani’s remarks at a petroleum conference in Tehran represented the first official Iranian comment on the US president’s overnight tweet that he’d make an announcement on the deal Tuesday.
“It is possible that we will face some problems for two or three months, but we will pass through this,” Rouhani said.
Rouhani also stressed Iran wants to keep “working with the world and constructive engagement with the world.” That appeared to be a nod to Europe, which has struck a series of business deals with Iran since the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran likely hopes the European Union will pass laws to protect European firms from any potential US sanctions.
European leaders repeatedly tried to persuade Trump to keep the existing deal and negotiate changes.
Later on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying that if Trump pulled out of the deal, he wouldn’t be able to “reach such a deal” again.
In Washington, Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US should continue to fix flaws in the accord and “enforce the hell” out of it, but not withdraw.
A decision to quit the deal could also rattle oil markets due to Iran’s role as a major exporter, and critics say it could also harm Trump’s efforts to reach a nuclear deal with North Korea, a prospect he has dismissed.
With Post wires
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