Trump aides say U.S. will stay in Iran deal for now
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will remain in the international nuclear deal with Iran for now, top national security aides said Sunday, a message of reassurance after allies, members of Congress and the Iranian government criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to set conditions on further U.S. participation.
Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said that the president’s threat to cancel the Iran deal “set out a marker” for the United States and its allies to fix what he called “a weak deal that is being weakly monitored.”
“The president has made clear that he will not permit this deal to provide cover for what we know is a horrible regime to develop a nuclear weapon,” McMaster said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
“One of the real problems with this deal is we can’t really say with confidence that they’re complying,” McMaster said, accusing Iran of having “walked up to the line” and “crossed the line several times in terms of the restrictions.”
“This is not a trustworthy regime,” he said. “So much more comprehensive monitoring is in order.”
Asked what incentive Iran has to revisit the deal, McMaster said: “They have to revisit it because otherwise what you do is you just give the Iranians the opportunity to develop a nuclear capability. Their programs can advance and then they can go to industrial scale enrichment of uranium within a very short period of time and then bridge into a weapon, and that is just an unacceptable risk to the world.”
McMaster insisted that “the president’s not walking away from the deal yet” and wants to see “some real change.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the president’s action on Iran is a “signal” to Congress and the other signers of the agreement, including Iran.
“If we don’t see improvement, there is no sense in staying in, and he has every intention of walking out,” Tillerson said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.” The action Friday puts the onus on Congress to decide what to do next, including attempting to add provisions that would satisfy U.S. concerns, Tillerson said.
A separate new agreement among the international parties to the deal could “lay alongside” the existing 2015 pact, Tillerson said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Trump is taking the right approach to Iran.
“The president ran on the idea that this was a bad deal for America, and he won,” Graham said.
He suggested he could support the approach favored by GOP Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Tom Cotton of Arkansas to add “triggers” for Iranian behavior that would lead to a return of U.S. sanctions suspended under the deal. That would require legislation, and some Democrats say it appears to be only a precursor to an eventual U.S. withdrawal from the deal.
Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said it is “an absolute fantasy” to believe that negotiations over the Iran deal will be reopened.
“The Iranians will not renegotiate it, and neither will the Europeans,” Murphy said on “Fox News Sunday.” “And so if we were to pull out of this agreement, as the president is threatening, Iran would get everything they want. They would be able to restart their nuclear program, because we would be in violation of the deal. The Europeans would continue to grant them sanctions relief, their economy would continue to grow and they would look like the victim in the situation.”
Murphy said Iran is complying with the agreement. “The White House is required to tell Congress if they are not, and they’ve submitted absolutely no submissions,” he said.