Trump throws future of Iran deal to Congress

WASHINGTON, D. C.: President Donald Trump will unveil a more aggressive strategy to check Iran’s growing power Friday, but will stop short of withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal, or declaring the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization.

During a White House speech at 12:45 pm (1645 GMT), Trump is expected to declare the landmark 2015 agreement—which curbed Iran’s nuclear program in return for massive sanctions relief—is no longer in the US national interest.

Officials say he will not kill the international accord outright, instead “decertifying” the agreement and leaving US lawmakers to decide its fate.

Trump had repeatedly pledged to overturn one of his predecessor Barack Obama’s crowning foreign policy achievements, deriding it as “the worst deal” and one agreed to out of “weakness.”

The agreement was signed between Iran and six world powers— Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US—at talks coordinated by the European Union.

While the deal stalled Iran’s nuclear program and thawed relations between Iran and its “Great Satan”, opponents say it also prevented ef in the Middle East.

faced intense lobbying from international allies and his own national security team, who argued the deal should remain in place.

In another partial climbdown, Trump is also expected to levy limited sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards, rather than inviting retaliation by designating it as a terrorist organization.

more some of the divisions and debates within the administration,” said former US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross.

Apart from running swaths of Iran’s economy and Iran’s ballistic program, the corps is also accused of guiding bellicose proxies from Hezbollah in Lebanon, to the Huthi in Yemen to Shia militia in Iraq and Syria.

Still, Trump’s tough-guy gambit could yet risk undoing years of careful diplomacy and increasing Middle East tensions.

UN nuclear inspectors say Iran is meeting the technical requirements of its side of the bargain, dramatically curtailing its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at US counterpart saying he was opposing “the whole world” by trying to abandon a landmark nuclear agreement.

“It will be absolutely clear which is the lawless government. It will be clear which country is respected by the nations of the world and global public opinion,” he added.

And Congress must now decide whether to end the nuclear accord by “snapping back” sanctions, which Iran demanded be lifted in exchange for limiting uranium enrichment.

Many lawmakers are waiting to see how Trump presents the choice before deciding whether to keep or torpedo the agreement.