US officials try to ease concerns Trump may pull out of Iran deal

Despite Trump's criticisms of the deal, US officials say the United States is committed to remain part of the Iran nuclear accord for the time being.

US President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran deal from the Diplomatic Reception room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 13, 2017. Trump announced he will not certify the Iran nuclear deal and warned that the US could leave the Iran deal 'at any time.'
AFP

US President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran deal from the Diplomatic Reception room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 13, 2017. Trump announced he will not certify the Iran nuclear deal and warned that the US could leave the Iran deal 'at any time.'

Senior Trump administration officials said on Sunday that the United States was committed to remaining part of the Iran nuclear accord for now, despite President Donald Trump's criticisms of the deal and his warnings that he might pull out.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said that Tehran is complying with the 2015 nuclear accord intended to increase Iran's accountability in return for the lifting of some economic sanctions.

"I think right now, you're going to see us stay in the deal," Haley told NBC's "Meet the Press."

In a speech on Friday, Trump laid out an aggressive approach on Iran and said he would not certify it is complying with the nuclear accord, despite a determination by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog that Tehran is meeting its terms.

The Republican president threw the issue to the US Congress, which has 60 days to decide whether to reinstate US sanctions. He warned that if "we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated."

So far, none of the other signatories to the deal - Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, Iran and the European Union - have cited serious concerns, leaving the United States isolated.

In her "Meet the Press" interview, Haley said the United States was not saying that Iran was in breach of the agreement, but she raised concerns about its activities that are not covered by the pact, including weapons sales and sponsorship of militant groups such as Hezbollah.

Haley said that other countries were "turning a blind eye" to these Iranian activities in order to "protect" the nuclear agreement.

She said the United States needed to weigh a "proportionate" response to Tehran's actions on the world stage.

"The goal at the end of the day is to hold Iran accountable," Haley said in the interview, which mainly focused on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the nuclear deal is formally known.

Haley and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hammered away at the need to address what they see as shortcomings in the two-year-old international accord while simultaneously placing pressure to rein in Iranian activities outside the scope of that deal.

A second pact?

Tillerson, alluding to other signatory countries' opposition to reopening the Iran pact, raised the possibility of "a second agreement" to run parallel to the existing one. Among the "areas of concern," he mentioned were its sunset provisions and Tehran's ballistic missile program.

Haley also said the reason the United States was looking closely at the Iran nuclear deal is because of escalating tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons development. "What we're saying now with Iran is don't let it become the next North Korea."

On Friday, Trump also said he was authorising the US Treasury to sanction Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and on Sunday Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was planning to move ahead.

Mnuchin, interviewed on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," said he has spoken about Iran with his counterparts attending World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in recent days.

He did not provide any details on possible sanctions.

US Senator Susan Collins, appearing on ABC's "This Week," noted that Trump could have taken a more extreme step by withdrawing from the agreement.

But in words of support for Trump, the moderate Republican lawmaker said, "Instead, he put a spotlight on two troubling deficiencies in the agreement," referring to a lack of limitations on Iran's tests of ballistic missiles and a "pathway to developing a nuclear weapon" down the road.

While many US allies strongly criticised Trump's decision not to re-certify the Iran deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the move, saying the current terms of the Iran nuclear accord would allow it to have a nuclear stockpile within a decade.

"We cannot allow this rogue regime 30 times the size of North Korea's economy to have a nuclear arsenal," Netanyahu said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

'Iran move won't weaken US hand with North Korea'

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday denied that Donald Trump's threat to tear up the Iran nuclear deal had weakened America's chance of reining in North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile drive through diplomacy.

By calling into question the landmark deal to curb Iran's nuclear programme, worried allies fear the US president has sent a message to Pyongyang that America's word cannot be trusted.

In a virulent speech on Friday, Trump refused to certify Iran's compliance with the deal, kicking its fate to Congress, which he told to address its "many serious flaws."

"I think what North Korea should take away from this decision is that the United States will expect a very demanding agreement with North Korea," Tillerson said on CNN's State of the Union.

"One that is very binding and achieves the objectives not just of the United States but the policy objectives of China and other neighbours in the region, a denuclearised Korean peninsula."

"If we achieve that, there will be nothing to walk away from because the objective will be achieved."

The US top diplomat's efforts to rein in North Korea have been overshadowed by Trump's un-diplomatic style and his streams of taunting tweets stirring international tensions.

Earlier this month, as Tillerson flew home from meeting with top Chinese officials, Trump tweeted that his envoy was "wasting his time" in trying to probe North Korea's willingness to talk.

But Tillerson pushed back at claims that Trump has undermined his efforts after outspoken Republican senator and Trump critic Bob Corker said the president was seeking to "castrate" his top diplomat.

"No, sir. He has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts," Tillerson said. "Those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops."

"The president has also made clear to me that he wants this solved diplomatically," he added. "He's not seeking to go to war."

The Secretary of State was forced this month to deny claims of a serious rift with Trump, after it was reported he had called the president a "moron."

Tillerson has refused to outright deny the report, which he once more dismissed on CNN as "petty stuff."

But he had a quick comeback at the ready when asked about Corker's claim that Trump was trying to "castrate" him on the world stage: "I checked. I'm fully intact."

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