‘I HAVE DECIDED,’ TRUMP SAYS OF IRAN DEAL BEFORE BIG TALKS
New York — “I have decided,” President Donald Trump declared Wednesday, announcing he’d reached a verdict on the Iran nuclear deal’s future even before top U.S. and Iranian officials held their highest-level talks of his presidency. Iran’s president, meanwhile, lashed out at “ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric” in response to Trump’s blistering attack at the U.N.
The jabbing between Trump and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani set the stage for a contentious meeting of the nuclear accord’s parties. Trump has sent strong signals that he could walk away from the seven-nation agreement, which would potentially lead to new U.S. sanctions on Iran and its international trading partners. The Iranians, in turn, have threatened to respond to any U.S. pullout by restarting nuclear activities that could take them closer to bomb-making capability.
Asked about his stance on the nuclear pact Wednesday, Trump said he had made a decision. Pressed for details, he replied coyly: “I’ll let you know.”
United Nations — Iran fired back sharply at President Donald Trump at the United Nations on Wednesday, dismissing what it called “ignorant, hateful and absurd rhetoric” and challenging his threats to tear up the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
A day after Trump denounced Tehran as a “rogue state” to the U.N. General Assembly, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stood before the same gathering of global leaders and diplomats, and aimed the insult back at him.
“It would be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics,” Rouhani said of the nuclear accord.
The disarmament deal “belongs to the international community in its entirety, and not only to one or two” governments, he said.
President Barack Obama had argued that the U.N.-approved accord would destroy Iran’s ability to build nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. Over the last two years, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, has repeatedly found Iran is complying with the pact.
But Obama also hoped that easing sanctions would draw Iran more into global trade and other systems, ending more than three decades of enmity and isolation, much as China has emerged as a major power.
The latest bitter tit-for-tat at the U.N. lectern shows how U.S.-Iranian relations remain as estranged as ever, with both sides leveling angry charges on the global stage. It comes as Trump simultaneously is trying to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear arms through negotiations or face annihilation.
Trump said Wednesday he has made a decision on whether he will certify to Congress by an Oct. 15 deadline that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal, as he already has done twice this year. But he refused to say what he has decided.
“I have decided,” Trump said three times in response to shouted questions from reporters. He smiled and said, “I’ll let you know.”