Trump has decided on Iran: ‘I’ll let you know’ what later
President Trump said Wednesday he made a decision about whether to keep or kill the Iran nuclear agreement he called an “embarrassment to the United States” — but he wouldn’t say what it was.
“I’ll let you know what the decision is,” Trump told reporters before speaking with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
In a major address to the world body Tuesday, Trump called the Obama-era deal designed to curtail Iran’s nuclear program “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions” in history.
Trump faces a deadline of Oct. 15 to tell Congress whether he intends to recertify the agreement signed in 2015 by his predecessor, Barack Obama. The United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Germany and the European Union also signed the agreement, in which Iran agreed to give up the means to make nuclear weapons. As part of the agreement, the United States and its allies agreed to reduce long-term economic sanctions on Tehran.
In his U.N. address, Trump accused Tehran of violating the spirit of the agreement intended to keep Iran’s nuclear program peaceful. “We cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program,” he said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in his remarks to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that Trump is the one threatening to violate the agreement and that the New York businessman is making unfounded accusations. “It will be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by ‘rogue’ newcomers to the world of politics. The world will have lost a great opportunity,” Rouhani said.
The other signatories have said Iran complies with the agreement, and voiding it would encourage Iran’s nuclear weapons program and could trigger an arms race throughout the Middle East.
Killing the deal would be a “grave mistake,” French President Emmanuel Macron said during his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday.
The fate of the Iran nuclear agreement is the subject of intense debate within the Trump administration, and some members want to maintain it.
At a security forum sponsored by the Washington-based Hudson Institute, Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said Iran is in compliance with the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
If Trump chooses not to recertify the deal, that may not scrap the agreement. Congress would have 60 days to decide whether or not to reimpose sanctions.