Aides: U.S. still reliable in Iran deal halt
New agreement must meet goals
The United States will remain a trustworthy international partner, administration national security aides said Sunday, offering reassurances after allies and members of Congress criticized President Donald Trump for deciding to alter terms for participation in the international nuclear deal with Iran.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and others dismissed questions about whether the United States is sending a message to North Korea, for example, that undermines any deal that nation might contemplate over its own nuclear program.
“I think what North Korea should take away from this decision is that the United States will expect a very demanding agreement with North Korea, one that is very binding and achieves the objectives, not just of the United States but the policy objectives of China and other neighbors,” Mr. Tillerson said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
That shared goal, he said, is to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.
“We intend to be very demanding in that agreement,” Mr. Tillerson said. “And if we achieve that, then there will be nothing to walk away from.”
Mr. Trump on Friday set further conditions on U.S. participation in the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and five other nations and threatened to walk away if his concerns are not met. His decision threatens but does not undo a signature foreign policy priority of former President Barack Obama that Mr. Trump has called “an embarrassment.”
European allies have warned that they will not follow suit if the United States abrogates the deal. Although Mr. Trump did not kill the agreement outright, as he had frequently threatened to do, the current limbo is not much better from the perspective of several key allies.
Mr. Tillerson said on Sunday, “The issue with the Iran agreement is, it does not achieve the objective. It simply postpones the achievement of that objective. And we feel that that is one of the weaknesses under the agreement, so we’re going to stay in. We’re going to work with our European partners and allies to see if we can’t address these concerns, which are concerns of all of us.”
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley was asked what incentive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would have to cut a deal now. Such an agreement has long been presumed to require American leadership and backing, since Mr. Kim considers Washington his principal enemy.
“What we’re saying now with Iran is, don’t let it become the next North Korea. So what this says to North Korea is, ‘Don’t expect us to engage in a bad deal, and also, if at any point we do come up with something, expect us to follow through with it. Expect us to hold you accountable,” Ms. Haley said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
Mr. 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.”
“One of the real problems with this deal is we can’t really say with confidence that they’re complying,” Gen. McMaster said, accusing Iran of having “walked up to the line” and “crossed the line several times in terms of the restrictions.”
A separate new agreement among the international parties to the deal could “lay alongside” the existing 2015 pact, Mr. Tillerson said. He dismissed criticism that Mr. Trump’s opposition to the Iran deal as it stands would spoil chances for a similar international compact to address North Korea’s nuclear program.
“It would be pretty rich” for North Korea to doubt U.S. trustworthiness, Mr. Tillerson said with a smile. He said the diplomatic approach he is pursuing “will continue until the first bomb is dropped.”