Trump pulls US out of Iran nuclear deal

Iran, Russia, and the European powers that signed a 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran have vowed to keep honoring the deal despite a U.S. decision to pull out, but the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump says it is working to make that hard.

“Trump believes the fantasy that has been told to him by his National Security Adviser John Bolton and new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that by trying to re-impose sanctions we can force the Europeans to work with us to renegotiate a completely new agreement with the Iranians that’s better for us and worse for the Iranians”, Kimball told Al Jazeera.

Leading politicians in Denmark were broadly critical of the announcement on Tuesday by President Donald Trump that the United States would violate the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump complained that the deal, the signature foreign policy achievement of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 or its role in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.

The pullout of the USA from the deal, which eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country limiting its nuclear program, risks sparking an arms race in the Middle East, experts said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although the US and Europeans made progress on ballistic missiles and inspections, there were disagreements over extending the life of the deal and how to trigger additional penalties if Iran were found in violation, USA officials and European diplomats have said. The United Nations Security Council unanimously endorsed it, as did the twenty-eight nations of the European Union.

They noted that this included the “economic benefits to the Iranian people that are linked to the agreement”, which means European firms would in theory continue to invest and operate there.

However, Wednesday’s demonstration shows the public anger coursing through Iran after Trump’s decision.

“Following today’s announcement, we will consult with the United States government on next steps”, said Gordon Johndroe, a vice president of government operations communications. The ministry added, however, that it was open to cooperating with the remaining parties to the agreement and would continue to “actively develop” its ties with Iran.

In Germany, the US ambassador, Richard Grenell, said via Twitter that “German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately”.

The decision marked a stark diplomatic defeat for Europe, whose leaders, repeatedly and in person, begged the mercurial U.S. leader to think again.

“Iran’s exports of oil to Asia and Europe will nearly certainly decline later this year and into 2019 as some nations seek alternatives in order to avoid trouble with Washington and as sanctions start to bite”, said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta.

Trump’s decision intensifies the strain on the trans-Atlantic alliance since he took office 16 months ago.

“The confrontation will now be whether European companies can do business in Iran”, he said.

Ahead of the deadline the U.S. leader says he will announce his decision Tuesday, putting an abrupt end to efforts over the past weeks by the UK, Germany and France to save the deal.

Mr Burt sought to play down suggestions that the United States was ready to launch an attack on Iran – possibly using “proxies” such as the Israelis or the Saudis, who also remain highly suspicious of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. They also burned a piece of paper representing the nuclear deal and stomped on the papers’ ashes.

The sentiment was shared in other capitals backing the 2015 nuclear deal: Brussels, Berlin, Moscow and Beijing. New U.S. sanctions will affect these plans immediately, especially if any of the countries along the route or banking and insurance companies dealing with the INSTC plan also decide to adhere to U.S. restrictions on trade with Iran. “I’m going to be discussing this tomorrow morning with my British, French, and German counterparts, so we’re already underway”, he said.