Trump turns to Congress on Iran nuke deal
President will honor agreement for now
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday angrily accused Iran of violating the landmark 2015 international nuclear accord, blaming the Iranians for a litany of sinister behavior and hitting their main military wing with anti-terror penalties. But Mr. Trump, contrary to his campaign pledge to rip up the agreement, did not pull the U.S. out or re-impose nuclear sanctions.
He still might, he was quick to add. For now, he’s tossing the issue to Congress and the other nations in the seven-country accord, telling lawmakers to toughen the law that governs U.S. participation and calling on the other parties to fix a series of deficiencies. Those include
the scheduled expiration of key restrictions under “sunset provisions” that begin to kick in in 2025, as well as the omission of provisions on ballistic missile testing and terrorism.
Without the fixes, Mr. Trump warned, he would likely pull the U.S. out of the deal — which he has called the worst in U.S. history — and slap previously lifted U.S. sanctions back into place. That would probably be a fatal blow for the seven -party accord.
“Our participation can be canceled by me, as president, at any time,” Mr. Trump declared in a carefully delivered speech read from a teleprompter in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House. He added later, speaking of Congress, “They may come back with something that’s very satisfactory to me, and if they don’t, within a very short period of time, I’ll terminate the deal.”
Under U.S. law, Mr. Trump faces a Sunday deadline to certify to Congress whether Iran is complying with the accord. That notification must take place every 90 days, a timetable that Mr. Trump detests. Since taking office, he has twice reluctantly certified that Iran is fulfilling its commitments.
On Friday, he said he would not do so again.
Mr. Trump alone cannot actually terminate the accord, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for concessions regarding its nuclear program. But withdrawing the U.S. would render the deal virtually meaningless. That would be risky, though, and could badly damage U.S. credibility in future international negotiations. The accord was struck after 18 months of negotiations between the Obama administration, Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union and then endorsed by a unanimous vote in the U.N. Security Council.
Mr. Trump’s main national security aides have all argued for staying in the deal. So have key allies in Europe who are leery of altering an accord that they believe has prevented Iran from assembling an arsenal of atomic weapons.
Mr. Trump opened his speech by reciting a long list of grievances with Iran dating back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy and American hostages in Tehran. He then noted terrorist attacks against Americans and American allies committed by Iranian proxies, such as Hezbollah, and Iran’s ongoing ballistic missile tests.
“We cannot and will not make this certification” that Iran is complying with the accord, he 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.”
But “decertifying” the deal stops well short of pulling out and simply moves the issues over to Congress. Lawmakers now have 60 days to decide whether to put the accord’s previous sanctions back into place, modify them or do nothing.
Republicans face a heavy lift in rallying GOP lawmakers and Democrats behind legislation that would make the accord more stringent and please Mr. Trump. Some GOP senators question whether the pact can be fixed.
Also Friday, Mr. Trump said he was hitting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard with sanctions for supporting terrorism.