Tuesday, May 08, 2018

Trump Announces Withdraw From Iran Nuclear Deal

President Trump on Tuesday announced the decision to "withdraw" from the Iran nuclear deal, keeping a longtime campaign promise, claiming there is evidence Iran is not in compliance with the deal and the agreement will allow the Iranian regime to amass nuclear weapons.

"In just a short period of time, the world's leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world's most dangerous weapons," Mr. Trump said from the White House's Diplomatic Room. "Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal."

That means the U.S. will not renew sanctions waiver and will no longer participate in the Iran nuclear deal, The sanctions the U.S. waived because of the accord will be reinstated.

According to the U.S. Treasury, its Office of Foreign Assets control is taking action immediately to implement Mr. Trump's decision. Sanctions will have 90-day and 180-day wind-down periods, at the end of which relevant, previous sanctions will come back in place.

U.S. intelligence has verified that the deal has been an effective arms control deal that has kept Iran's nuclear program frozen for three years, Trump is delivering on another campaign promise, but one which is arguably far more consequential than any other deal he's torn up.

The United Kingdom, France and Germany were all unable to persuade the Trump administration to broker a side deal that would satisfy the U.S. enough to keep it a party to the 2015 agreement. Shortly before the president was to announce his decision, the leaders of those countries, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were on a call to discuss their response to Mr. Trump's announcement, CBS News; Kylie Atwood reports, citing European diplomatic sources.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump insisted America would not be held "hostage" by such a deal.

"America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail," the president said. "We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction and we will not allow a regime that chants 'death to America' to gain access to the most deadly weapons on Earth."

Mr. Trump spent much of the 2016 campaign and early days of his presidency slamming the 2015 nuclear pact as "a mess" and "badly negotiated." That sentiment did well with his supporters.

No comments: