Trump’s nuke fallout

US withdrew from Iran deal to spite Obama, says new leak

BRITAIN’S ambassador to Washington believed US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal because it was associated with his predecessor Barack Obama, according to leaked documents.

“The administration is set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons – it was Obama’s deal,” ambassador Kim Darroch wrote in a diplomatic cable in May 2018.

The cable was included in a second batch of leaked reports published by the Mail on Sunday newspaper, the first of which caused Mr Darroch to resign earlier this week.

Separately, it was reported that a government investigation into the leak had identified a civil servant as the person responsible.

Working with officials from the National Cyber Security Centre, part of spy agency GCHQ, and MI6, the probe has homed in on a suspect who had access to historical Foreign Office files.

The first leaked reports authored by Mr Darroch were published last weekend, causing major turmoil between Britain and its closest ally.

The ambassador was reported to have described White House as “inept”.

Mr Trump retaliated by calling him “wacky” and “a fool”. In May 2018, Britain’s then-foreign minister Boris Johnson went to Washington to try to persuade Mr Trump not to abandon the Iran deal.

In a cable sent afterwards, Mr Darroch reportedly indicated there were divisions in Mr Trump’s team over the dethe cision, and criticised the White House for a lack of long-term strategy.

In 2015, the US, China, Britain, France, Russia and Germany signed a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program in exchange for a partial lifting of international economic sanctions. Mr Trump had long been critical of the deal and withdrew the US on May 8, 2018.