Trump sets decision on Iran deal for today
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is set to reveal his decision today on whether to keep the U.S. in the 2015 agreement that froze Iran’s nuclear program.
The announcement is set to cap more than a year of deliberation and negotiation that has at times pitted Trump against some of his closest aides and key American allies. Trump is facing a self-imposed Saturday deadline over whether to uphold the nuclear agreement, which he long has criticized. The president has signaled he will pull out of the pact by the deadline unless it is revised, but he faces intense pressure from European allies not to do so.
“I will be announcing my decision on the Iran Deal tomorrow from the White House at 2:00pm [Eastern time],” Trump tweeted Monday.
The president has been the subject of an intense lobbying effort by American
allies to maintain the agreement, with British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson making a last-ditch appeal to the administration in a visit to Washington this week. European leaders say they are open to negotiating a side agreement with Iran, but the existing framework must remain untouched for that to happen.
It is not immediately clear what Trump will announce today, or whether he will announce the end of the deal or push for a renegotiation. Trump in October “decertified” the deal with Iran but did not move to reimpose sanctions, known as a “snapback.”
Diplomats who were familiar with the negotiations said Trump appeared inclined to scrap the deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran.
But it is unclear whether he would moderate that move, perhaps by allowing the European nations to move ahead with their economic relations with Tehran without being penalized by the United States.
On Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would be willing not to abandon the nuclear deal even if the United States pulls out, providing the European Union offers guarantees that Iran would keep benefiting from the accord.
Rouhani said that “what we want for the deal is that it’s preserved and guaranteed by the non-Americans” — a reference to other signatories of the 2015 agreement.
He added in this case “then the U.S. pullout will be OK.”
The foreign ministers of France and Germany said Monday that they will hold on to the nuclear agreement with Iran, regardless of the U.S. decision.
France’s top diplomat, JeanYves Le Drian, said the three European countries that were part of the deal — France,
Britain and Germany — are committed to maintaining it.
Le Drian said Monday in Berlin that “we will continue it independently of the American decision.”
His German counterpart, Heiko Maas, said Berlin, too, wants to stick by the deal, which he said “makes the world a safer place and without it the world would be less safe.”
U.S. officials and European allies share the conclusion that the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, has halted Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. Trump has objected to a sunset provision that would allow Iran to restart some nuclear development in 2025.
“We need to find a way of fixing that, and the president has been right to call attention to it, but you can’t just do that without throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” Johnson said Monday in an appearance on Fox News.
Johnson is scheduled to meet this week with Vice President Mike Pence, national security adviser John Bolton and other administration and congressional officials to try to salvage the pact aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program in return for the easing of international sanctions. Johnson’s arrival follows recent visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
They argued that if the United States withdraws, Iran could accurately claim that Washington was the first to violate the accord, and Iran would be free, if it chose, to resume fuel production, according to diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
Supporters of the deal also argue that withdrawing from the agreement would undermine Trump’s push for North Korea, which has a far more advanced nuclear program than ever possessed by Iran, to denuclearize. Trump is planning to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un within the next month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the 2015 accord is fatally flawed and must be “fully fixed or nixed” to stop Iranian aggression sooner than later. His comments came as the Iranian president warned that the U.S. would face “historic” regret if it pulled out.
Members of Trump’s own party are split. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said Sunday that he “would counsel against” Trump quitting the accord. Still, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said he’s “very comfortable” that the president is standing up to Iran.
TRUMP BASHES KERRY
Earlier Monday, Trump criticized John Kerry after reports that the former secretary of state has been promoting the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump said on Twitter: “The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!”
Kerry, the lead negotiator for President Barack Obama’s administration on the Iran deal and on the Paris climate accord, has been promoting both agreements since he left office.
The Boston Globe reported Friday that Kerry had been privately meeting with foreign officials to strategize on how to keep the U.S. in the Iran deal.
The paper said Kerry has been seeking to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside to preserve the pact.
Kerry has met with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. At least one of their meetings was at a June 2017 public event in Oslo, Norway, where they sat on the same panel with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and extolled the virtues of the nuclear deal.
Kerry, a keen environmentalist who regularly derided climate-change skeptics and championed ocean health while secretary of state, has also continued to speak out on those issues since becoming a private citizen.
Last week at an event in Dallas, Trump mocked Kerry over a bicycle accident he had three years ago.
Since the Globe report, Kerry has come under fire from conservative commentators, with some suggesting his dealings with foreign officials could violate the rarely enforced Logan Act. That law prohibits private citizens from negotiating on behalf of the U.S. government without authorization.
After Trump’s tweet, a Kerry spokesman released a statement defending his actions.
“I think every American would want every voice possible urging Iran to remain in compliance with the nuclear agreement that prevented a war,” the statement said. “Secretary Kerry stays in touch with his former counterparts around the world just like every previous Secretary of State. Like America’s closest allies, he believes it is important that the nuclear agreement, which took the world years to negotiate, remain effective as countries focus on stability in the region.”
Information for this article was contributed by Zeke Miller, Catherine Lucey, Matthew Lee, Josh Lederman and staff members of The Associated Press; by Mark Niquette, Terrence Dopp, Michael S. Arnold, David Wainer, Golnar Motevalli, Ben Brody, Alan Bjerga, Gregory Viscusi and Nick Wadhams of Bloomberg News; and by John Wagner of The Washington Post.