May condemns Trump’s threat to terminate Iran’s nuclear deal

BRITAIN last night led criticism of Donald Trump after the US President said he would no longer certify an international nuclear deal with Iran.

Theresa May issued a joint statement with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President emmanuel Macron saying they ‘stand committed’ to the agreement.

Mr Trump insisted he was not scrapping the deal but sending it to Congress to make it tougher. If senators are unable to do so, the President said the agreement would be ‘terminated’, a move that could plunge the Middle east into chaos.

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal took two years of negotiations under President Barack obama with the help of Britain, France, Germany, russia, China and the EU.

It was designed to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon; in exchange for lifting sanctions, Tehran curbed its uranium stock- pile and allowed inspectors into the country. Mr Trump has to certify the deal every 90 days – he has done so twice already – but believes it lets Iran off the hook.

Speaking at the White House yesterday, the President branded Iran a ‘rogue regime’ and announced new sanctions against its elite revolutionary Guards.

He compared Iran to North Korea and said ‘the longer we ignore a threat, the worse that threat becomes’.

Mr Trump said: ‘We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout.’

Last night’s statement from Britain, France and Germany said they were all ‘concerned by the possible implications’ of the President’s decision to potentially roll back the deal. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: ‘We cannot afford as the international community to dismantle a nuclear agreement that is working.

‘This deal is not a bilateral agreement. The international community, and the EU with it, has clearly indicated that the deal is, and will, continue to be in place.’

Mrs May had called Mr Trump this week to urge him to recertify the agreement because it is ‘vitally important for regional security’.

In his speech yesterday, Mr Trump said Iran’s Islamic leaders had ‘spread death, destruction and chaos all around the globe’.

He added that the nuclear deal was a ‘lifeline’ that allowed Tehran to carry on sponsoring terrorism because it unlocked $100billion (£75billion) of frozen assets.

Mr Trump said he had to act because Iran had committed ‘multiple violations of the agreement’, a claim disputed by members of his own cabinet.