Trump to decide on Iran nuclear deal ‘very soon’

President could scrap plan, says country not living up to ‘the spirit’ of agreement

President NEW YORK CITY Trump said Monday he is still reviewing the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, and is close to making a decision about whether to abandon it.

“You’ll see very soon,” Trump told reporters before a meeting with a prominent critic of the Iran deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, meeting with Trump at the United Nations week, told the president he was looking forward “to discussing how we can address what you rightly call a terrible nuclear deal with Iran.” The Israeli leader has said the United States should either “fix” the agreement, or scrap it altogether.

Trump has long hinted he may seek to kill the deal that his predecessor Barack Obama reached in 2015.

Iran agreed to give up the means to make nuclear weapons as the U.S. and allies reduce economic sanctions as part of the agreement. Yet Trump says Iran isn’t living up to “the spirit” of the deal.

“We are not going to stand for what they’re doing to this country,” Trump told reporters last week.

Trump also met Monday with a prominent supporter of the Iran agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron.

France is one of the U.S. partners in the Iran agreement, along with Germany, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia, and China. These allies continue to support the deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was intended to keep Iran’s nuclear program peaceful.

Obama and U.S. allies negotiated the deal despite opposition that included many congressional Republicans and the Israeli government. These opponents argued Iran would cheat and pursue nuclear weapons anyway.

Iran, which has suggested it would step up its nuclear program if the agreement is abandoned, has warned Trump

“We are not going to stand for what they’re doing to this country.”

President Trump

against leaving the deal.

“Exiting such an agreement would carry a high cost for the United States of America, and I do not believe Americans would be willing to pay such a high cost for something that will be useless for them,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told CNN in an interview Monday.

Despite Trump’s attacks, his administration has previously decided to re-certify the agreement, as required by Congress.

Trump’s team now faces an Oct. 15 deadline to tell Congress whether it will continue to certify that Iran is compliant with the deal.

If Trump refuses to certify, Congress has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose U.S. sanctions on Iran.