Donald Trump, the President of the United States has said that he will withdraw his country from the Iran Nuclear Deal, a decision that has invited global condemnation and outcry.
The pullout of the US 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.
However, after Trump’s decision, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said that Tehran will remain in the nuclear deal with other signatories of the deal without the US.
“From this time on, the nuclear deal is an accord between Iran and five countries,” Rouhani said in live speech broadcast from Press TV.
Iran proved that it has been committed to its international obligations, Rouhani said, adding that “our experience shows that over the past 40 years the United States has never been reliable vis-a-vis its commitments.”
Actually, the United States has never been bound to its nuclear deal obligations since it was implemented in January 2016, he said.
Under the deal signed in Vienna with six world powers – the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union – Iran scaled back its uranium enrichment programme and promised not to pursue nuclear weapons.
Trump’s decision came on the heels of visits to the US by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Macron even proposed a last-ditch side plan to appease Trump, but had failed to convince him.
The White House said later that Trump had “directed his administration to immediately begin the process of re-imposing sanctions related to the JCPOA,” and “the re-imposed sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy, such as its energy, petrochemical, and financial sectors.”
