DEFEND IRAN NUKE DEAL
nuclear weapons — he would terminate the agreement, an ultimatum that threw the future of the accord into question.
Though they avoided direct criticism of Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, in a rare joint statement, said they “stand committed” to the 2015 nuclear deal and that preserving it was “in our shared national security interest”.
“The nuclear deal was the culmination of 13 years of diplomacy and was a major step towards ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program is not diverted for military purposes,” they said.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Trump was sending “a difficult and also from our point of view dangerous signal”.
He said the Iran deal, and other diplomatic achievements, were necessary “to convince countries like North Korea, and maybe also others, that it is possible to create security without acquiring nuclear weapons”.
“Destroying this agreement would, worldwide, mean that others could no longer rely on such agreements. That’s why it’s a danger that goes further than Iran.”
Reaction from Iran was quick and pointed. Appearing on television, Iran President Hassan Rouhani denounced Trump and called the US an outlier that had become “more lonely than ever” in the international community. Rouhani did not threaten to withdraw from the deal, but made it clear that he would not renegotiate the terms either.
“The statements of Trump are nothing but abuse and threats against the people of Iran,” he said. “An international agreement cannot be disregarded.”
European leaders noted that the United Nations Security Council had unanimously endorsed the deal, and that the International Atomic Energy Agency had confirmed Iran’s compliance with it.
But Trump’s aggressive stance on Iran won plaudits from several nations on Friday, specifically from adversaries of Iran like Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Russia, which took part in negotiations to reach the accord and had warned Trump not to rescind it, said the president had no basis for disavowing the deal.
“Iran is abiding” by the nuclear agreement, Mikhail Ulyanov, a director at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Interfax news agency.
“Everyone agrees with that. And an attempt to somehow heighten the tensions in this situation looks like unmotivated aggression.”
There are fears that the basic framework of the accord could collapse if the US walked away.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Russia believed Iran would abandon the deal if the US did. NYT