Haley: US to stay in Iran nuclear deal ‘right now’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States, for the time being, will stay in an international nuclear deal with Iran, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Sunday, adding that the Trump administration wanted to weigh a “proportionate” response to Tehran’s actions on the world stage.

“I think, right now, you’re going to see us stay in the deal, because what our hope is, [is] that we can improve the situation, and that’s the goal,” Haley said, referring to what she said were Iran’s ballistic-missile tests, international arms sales and state-sponsored terrorism.

Haley, interviewed on NBC’s Meet the Press, also said the reason the United States was looking closely at the Iran nuclear deal is because of escalating tensions over North Korea’s nuclear-weapons development.

“What we’re saying now with Iran is don’t let it become the next North Korea,” she said.

On Friday, Trump refused to formally certify that Iran was meeting the requirements of a 2015 international deal aimed at monitoring and controlling that country’s nuclear program.

Congress now has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under the deal.

In her Meet the Press interview, Haley said, however, “We’re not saying they’re in breach of the agreement.”

Haley, also interviewed on ABC’s This Week, said of Iran: “We have to hold them accountable. They can’t be continuing to support terrorism around the world like we are seeing they do. They can’t continue to test ballistic missiles, which will lead to a nuclear Iran. They can’t continue to do arms smuggling.”

Haley said other countries were “turning a blind eye” to these activities by Iran in order to “protect” the nuclear agreement.