EU-US troubles to start with the Trump exit out of the Iran nuclear deal




President Trump on Tuesday said he is pulling the United States out of the international nuclear deal with Iran, announcing that economic sanctions against Tehran will be reinstated and declaring that the 2015 pact was rooted in "fiction." (washingtonpost.com)

While he cast the U.S. action as essential for national security and a warning to Iran and any other nuclear aspirant that "the United States no longer makes empty threats," it could also increase tensions with key U.S. allies that heavily lobbied the administration in recent weeks not to abandon the pact and see it as key to keeping peace in the region. (washingtonpost.com)

That was a plea to Iran not to take steps that would break the deal, something Iranian officials have said at times they would do if Trump followed through on his frequent threats to yank the United States out of the agreement. (washingtonpost.com)

Trump immediately faced questions about whether he has a plan for dealing with Iran beyond scrapping the accord, and the administration will now be under pressure to show that it has a strategy for the Middle East beyond undoing what was put in place under President Barack Obama. (washingtonpost.com)

Even House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement that it was "unfortunate" that the United States could not come up with a way of fixing the Iran deal instead of withdrawing, and he thanked the European parties to the pact for trying to work with Washington "toward that goal." He expressed hope that they might be able to find a new way of addressing Iranian aggression before new sanctions are implemented. (washingtonpost.com)

Before the deal, the Obama administration squeezed traders and refiners to not buy Iranian oil, wringing a series of 20 percent cuts in purchases until more than 1 million barrels a day of Iran's exports had been taken off world markets. (washingtonpost.com)

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude fell about 1.4 percent, slipping to $69.74 a barrel. (washingtonpost.com)

Obama had expressed that the deal was working

In a public statement, Obama said the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, which he signed in 2015 is working. (globalnews.ca)

Obama praised the deal as a "model for what diplomacy can accomplish," and said that it has prevented Iran from developing its nuclear program. (globalnews.ca)

"We urge the U.S. to ensure that the structures of the JCPOA (deal) can remain intact, and to avoid taking action which obstructs its full implementation by all other parties to the deal," the statement provided by Prime minister Theresa may's office read. (globalnews.ca)

US risky Experiment

Now, with his announcement Tuesday that he is exiting the Iran deal and will reimpose economic sanctions on the country and firms around the world that do business with it, Mr. Trump is engaged in a grand, highly risky experiment. (nytimes.com)

While the deal succeeded in getting 97 percent of Iran's nuclear material out of the country, Iran's conservatives and its military recoiled at the idea of cooperating on any projects with the West. (nytimes.com)

"And, given the danger that Iran would have the ability to move rapidly to a weapon in the year 2030," when the limits on enrichment are removed, "the sunset issue needs to be addressed," said Mr. Ross, who negotiated Middle East issues during Mr. Obama first term, before the Iran deal began to take shape. (nytimes.com)

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