Trump withdraws the US from Iran nuclear deal and restores sanctions
President Donald Trump delivers a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House and announced that he will withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and restore sanctions on Tehran suspended under the 2015 accord.
Trump said he will restore sanctions on Iran, though he did not offer evidence that Tehran has violated the terms of the nuclear deal.
“We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction,” Trump said. “Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.”
“Today’s action sends a critical message,” Trump said. “The United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them.”
In addition to the United States, Iran negotiated the deal with China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. Those countries, along with the European Union, are trying to preserve the deal, creating the risk of a diplomatic and economic rift with the United States.
“As we exit the Iran deal, we will be working with our allies to find a real, comprehensive, and lasting solution to the Iranian threat,” Trump said.
Those efforts will target Iran’s ballistic missile program and its role in conflicts through the Middle East, Trump added.
World leaders reaction on Trump’s withdrawal’ from Iran nuclear
Hassan Rouhani reaction on Trump’s withdrawal’ from Iran nuclear
What was heard today was nothing but the repetition of baseless accusations and swear words that they have repeated for years,” Rouhani said in a televised address from Tehran.
“The Iranian nation does not expect anything else from you,” he added.
Rouhani said that despite the US president’s aggressive rhetoric, Tehran remained committed to the nuclear agreement for the time being.
“We respect the JCPOA … so long as it remains in keeping with our national rights and interests,” he said.
Russia’s foreign ministry Reaction on Trump’s withdrawal’ from Iran nuclear
Russia’s foreign ministry said there was no place in international diplomacy for “threatening” and “aggressive” rhetoric, adding that such methods were doomed to fail.
“It is a hangover from the past, which does not correspond to modern norms of civilised dealings between countries,” the statement said.
“We viewed with regret the decision of the US President not to confirm to Congress that Iran is fulfilling in good faith” the nuclear deal, it added.
The ministry said Trump’s decision to de-certify the deal would not have a direct impact on the implementation of the agreement, but that it ran counter to its spirit.
EU foreign policy chief on Trump’s withdrawal’ from Iran nuclear
In Brussels, Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, said the Iran deal is an international agreement and “it is not up to any single country to terminate it.”
She added: “It is not a bilateral agreement, it does not belong to any single country … The president of the United States has many powers, but not this one.”
Israel and Saudi Arabia on Trump’s withdrawal’ from Iran nuclear
“President Trump has just created an opportunity to fix this bad deal, to roll back Iran’s aggression and to confront its criminal support of terrorism,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Saudi Arabia also welcomed what it called Trump’s “decisive strategy” towards Iran and alleged lifting sanctions had allowed Tehran to develop its ballistic missile programme, step up its support for groups including Hezbollah and Houthi rebels in Yemen, and attack global shipping lanes.
The Riyadh government said in a statement it had supported the nuclear agreement, “but Iran took advantage of the economic gain from raising sanctions and used it to continue destabilising the region.”
It said it would continue to work with allies to achieve the goals announced by Trump and end Iran’s “hostile activities”.
