BREAKING: Trump Pulls U.S Out Of Iran Nuclear Deal

President Trump on Tuesday announced he will not renew sanctions waivers for the Iran nuclear deal, taking a step that could lead to the deal’s unraveling.

Keeping with the promise he made in January, Trump announced he has decided against continuing to wave sanctions as laid out in a 2015 pact between the United States, Iran, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and China.

The deal provided Tehran billions in sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear program.

Trump had faced a Saturday deadline to renew the waivers on oil and banking sanctions that were lifted as part of the deal.

International inspectors and the deal’s signatories, including U.S. officials, have said Iran continues to comply with the terms of the agreement, but Trump has long derided the Obama-era accord as the “worst deal ever negotiated.”

Trump had kept the deal alive by waiving sanctions several times since taking office.

The president last renewed the waivers in January, though, he warned he would not do so again unless European allies agreed to “fix” the nuclear deal.

Trump has cited three main flaws in the deal: several provisions sunset, nuclear inspectors cannot demand to see some military sites, and the deal does not address other troubling behavior such as Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for terrorists.

The administration was negotiating with Germany, France and the United Kingdom for a supplemental deal to address those areas.

As the waiver deadline approached, the Europeans engaged in a flurry of activity to convince Trump to remain in the pact. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson all visited the United States to make their case.

But the deal’s international critics were also active. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech in which he declared “Iran lied” about its nuclear intentions.

Supporters of the deal say the United States withdrawing gives Iran an excuse to restart its nuclear program, effectively killing the pact. France and Germany have warned the end of the deal could mean a Middle East war.

But experts have said Iran is likely to stay in the deal even without the United States if it can continue getting benefits from the accord by being able to do business with European companies.

In a sign that Iran is not ready to walk away from the deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday ahead of Trump’s announcement that Iran wants to keep “working with the world and constructive engagement with the world.”

“It is possible that we will face some problems for two or three months, but we will pass through this,” Rouhani said.

 

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The Hill