Trump pulls US out of ‘decaying’ Iran nuclear deal

US President Donald Trump yesterday pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and renewed economic sanctions on the country, fulfilling a campaign pledge and abandoning the 2015 accord.

The move, say Washington’s closest allies, risks a new and dangerous confrontation with the Islamic republic.

After weeks of speculation about whether or not he would uphold the landmark agreement signed between Tehran and world powers, Mr Trump announced the withdrawal from the pact despite Britain, France and Germany lobbying him to remain in the deal.

He failed to present an alternative plan to contain Tehran’s atomic activities, which were stalled by the 2015 agreement.

“It has become clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement,” he said in a speech at the White House. “Therefore I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.”

He said that the US would institute the “highest level” of sanctions on Iran, indicating that all of those lifted under the 2015 pact would be reinstated.

“Powerful sanctions will go into full effect,” he said, but did not elaborate.

Mr Trump pointed to the evidence provided by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week of an “atomic archive,” an alleged secret Iranian nuclear weapons programme that he said breached the agreement. He also accused Iran of supporting “terrorist proxies and militias” in what he called a “campaign of terror” across the Middle East.

“This disastrous deal gave the regime billions of dollars, some of it in actual cash,” he said.

In a televised address last night, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country would remain in a nuclear deal without the US. Earlier in the day, he had said Iran continued to seek “engagement with the world”.

Mr Trump said the Iranians would someday “want to make a new and lasting deal” and that “when they do, I am ready, willing and able”.

Saudi Arabia and Israel expressed their support for the US decision to leave the deal and reimpose sanctions.