United States reviewing ‘failed’ Iran nuclear agreement
US SECRETARY of State Rex Tillerson branded the Iran nuclear agreement a failure Wednesday as President Donald Trump ordered a review of how Washington is countering the threat from Tehran.
The State Department admits that Iran has so far maintained its side of the bargain it struck with world powers in 2015 to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
ButTillerson argued the accord had just been a way of “buying off” the regime and would only delay its development of a nuclear weapon that could threaten its region and the world.
“The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran,” Tillerson said.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed between Iran and world powers restricts its nuclear fuel enrichment for 10 years. Trump has between four and eight years left in office, depending on whether he wins a second term.
Tillerson said the JCPOA “fails to achieve the objective of a nonnuclear Iran” and was a product of “the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea”.
Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer said the review would be conducted by US government agencies over the next 90 days and recommendations would be presented to the president as to whether to stick by the deal.
Although Tillerson confirmed on Tuesday, at the end of a prior 90-day review period, that Iran is not cheating on the terms of the JCPOA,Washington has not ruled out breaking its own side of the agreement. And even if the US does not reimpose the nuclear sanctions it dropped under the deal, it could impose penalties on Iran for its alleged sponsorship of armed “terrorist” movements in other countries.