Scramble as Trump leaves Iran in lurch
US OUT, WHILE WEST TRIES TO SALVAGE IT ‘You’ve made a mistake,’ Iranian leader tells defiant US president.
Dismayed European allies sought to salvage the international nuclear pact with Iran yesterday after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the landmark accord, while Tehran poured scorn on the US leader.
“The deal is not dead. There’s an American withdrawal from the deal but the deal is still there,” French Foreign Minister JeanYves le Drian said.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had backed the deal reluctantly, accused Trump of lying: “Mr Trump, I tell you on behalf of the Iranian people: you’ve made a mistake.”
French President Emmanuel Macron was due to speak to his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, Le Drian said. Iran also signalled its willingness to talk.
Trump announced on Tuesday he would reimpose US economic sanctions on Iran to undermine what he called “a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made”.
The 2015 agreement, worked out by the US, five other world powers and Iran, lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme. The fruit of more than a decade of diplomacy, the pact was designed to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb.
Trump complained that the deal, the signature foreign policy achievement of his predecessor, Barack Obama, did not address Iran’s ballistic missile programme, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 or its role in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.
His decision raises the risk of deepening conflicts in the Middle East, puts the US at odds with European diplomatic and business interests and casts uncertainty over global oil supplies. Oil prices rose more than 2% yesterday.
Le Drian said Iran was honouring its commitments under the accord.
“The region deserves better than further destabilisation by American withdrawal. We want to adhere to it.” –