On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump withdrew America from JCPOA deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) signed during Obama-era between Iran and P5 (the five permanent members of UN Security Council) including Germany and the European Union in Vienna in July 2015.
“It is clear to me that we cannot prevent Iran nuclear bomb. The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know what will happen. In just a short time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapons. Therefore, I am announcing today that the United States would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” said Trump who has always been critical of US-Iran nuclear deal.
Trump asserted that the deal was “disastrous” and provided Iran millions of cash without preventing it from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“Allowing the deal to stay would result in an arms race in the region and the deal does nothing to constrain Iran’s destabilizing behavior,” Trump added
“The fact is, this was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made. It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will.”
Following this, he has signed new set of sanctions against the country and has warned other countries against any cooperation between Tehran on its controversial nuclear weapons program.
To this Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared that Iran would try to negotiate with the countries remaining in the nuclear deal. He also mentioned that Iran would start enriching uranium in the next few weeks if the deal doesn’t survive.
“If at the end of this short period, we’ve conclude that we are able to achieve our demands in the deal, the deal will survive,” Rouhani stressed.
Barack Obama on JCPOA
Former US President Barack Obama expressed his disappointment over Trump’s decision to pull back from JCPOA.
“I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake,” Obama said.
“Without the JCPOA, the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East.”
“The JCPOA does not rely on trust – it is rooted in the most far-reaching inspections and verification regime ever negotiated in an arms control deal. Iran’s nuclear facilities are strictly monitored. International monitors also have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain. Without the JCPOA, this monitoring and inspections regime would go away,” Obama said to debunk Trump’s concerns.
(Inputs by Reuters)
