Iran next on Trump hit list
President hails China over N Korea
US President Donald Trump has praised Chinese efforts to rein in “the menace of North Korea”, after the rogue nation’s state media warned the US of a “super-mighty preemptive strike”.
And he also warned Iran is “not living up to the spirit” of the nuclear deal struck with world powers in 2015.
Mr Trump said yesterday “some very unusual moves have been made over the last two or three hours”, and he was confident Chinese President Xi Jinping would “try very hard” to pressure North Korea over its missile programs.
While Mr Trump gave no indication of what the moves might be, the US was aware of a higher-than-usual level of activity by Chinese bombers, signalling a possible heightened state of readiness.
The officials played down concerns and left open a range of possible reasons. Those in- cluded defensive exercises or Chinese concerns over North Korea.
None of the officials suggested alarm or signalled that they knew the reason for such Chinese activity.
US officials have been saying for weeks that North Korea could soon stage another nu- clear missile test, something both the US and China have warned against.
Mr Trump’s administration has also been tightening the noose on Iran over their nuclear deal, which was negotiated by the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany to roll back Tehran’s nuclear program in return for easing sanctions.
“It was a terrible agreement,” said Mr Trump, who has regularly blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama.
“That was a bad one, as bad as I’ve ever seen negotiated. Iran has not lived up to the spirit of the agreement, and they have to do that. We’re analysing it very carefully.”
Mr Trump ordered a review of the deal led by his National Security Council, which will decide whether suspending sanctions “is vital to the national security interests of the United States”.
Although the State Department admits Iran has so far stuck to its side of the bargain, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the pact a failure and warned Iran risked becoming another North Korea: a hostile, nuclear-armed state.