Leaked memo: Trump axed Iran deal to spite Obama

LONDON — A U.K. newspaper has published more leaked memos revealing a British ambassador’s blunt assessments of the Trump administration, including one in which the envoy to Washington claimed President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal to spite predecessor Barack Obama.

In the May 2018 cable published by the Mail on Sunday, U.K. Ambassador Kim Darroch called Trump’s decision to abandon the international accord “an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons” because the pact “was Obama’s deal.”

Darroch wrote the memo after thenforeign Secretary Boris Johnson visited Washington in a failed attempt to persuade the United States not to abandon the 2015 nuclear agreement. The ambassador alleged the White House had no strategy for what would come after its withdrawal.

The newspaper published new details from the confidential diplomatic cables despite a police warning that doing so “could also constitute a criminal offence.” The Mail said publication was in the public interest.

Scotland Yard also is hunting for the perpetrator who leaked the confidential diplomatic cables to the Mail. Last week, the newspaper published memos from Darroch describing the Trump administration as dysfunctional and inept.

The publication of the ambassador’s views, meant for a small group of ministers and senior officials in London, cost him his job. But despite his resignation, Darroch remains in the post while a successor is chosen.

Rumors are swirling in London about who was behind the leak, seen as benefiting supporters of Brexit and Trump.

The journalist who reported the cables, Isabel Oakeshott, is a strong supporter of Brexit and an ally of Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who also is Britain’s leading champion of Trump.

Police see the leak as a potential breach of the Official Secrets Act, which bars public servants from making “damaging” disclosures of classified material. Breaking the act carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison, though prosecutions are rare.

Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, his rival in the race to be Britain’s next leader, defended the media’s right to publish.