President
Donald Trump, yesterday, pulled the United States out of an international
agreement aimed at stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, and said he
woul
d re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran immediately.
The decision
is likely to raise the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upset America’s
European allies and disrupt global oil supplies, reports Reuters.
“This was a
horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” Trump said at
the White House. “It didn’t bring calm. It didn’t bring peace. And it never
will.”
The 2015
deal, worked out by the United States, five other international powers and
Iran, eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear
programme.
Trump says
the agreement, the signature foreign policy achievement of Trump’s predecessor
Barack Obama, does not address Iran’s ballistic missile programme, its nuclear
activities beyond 2025 or its role in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.
Trump said
he was willing to negotiate a new deal with Iran, but Tehran has already ruled
that out and threatened unspecified retaliation if Washington pulled out.
Iranian
state television said on Tuesday that Trump’s decision to withdraw was
“illegal, illegitimate and undermines international agreements.”
Renewing
sanctions would make it much harder for Iran to sell its oil abroad or use the
international banking system.
The Iran
deal may remain partially intact, even without the United States. Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani suggested on Monday that Iran could remain in the
accord with the other signatories that stay committed to it.
Trump’s move
is a snub to European allies such as France, Britain and Germany who are also
part of the Iran deal and tried hard to convince the U.S. president to preserve
it. The Europeans must now scramble to decide their own course of action with
Tehran.
China and
Russia are also signatories to the deal.
Read More:
Trump announces US withdrawal from ‘defective’ Iran deal
Oil prices
dived as much as four per cent yesterday as media reports rattled markets with
doubts about whether Trump would withdraw Washington.
Trump did
not provide details of what he described as the “highest level of economic
sanctions” that he is re-imposing on Iran. But he implied that he was going
beyond not renewing waivers on sanctions related to Iran’s oil exports and its
central bank that were due to expire on Saturday and re-impose all of the other
U.S. sanctions that were suspended under the nuclear deal.
Iran’s
growing military and political power in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq worries
the United States, Israel and U.S. and its Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia.
Israel has traded blows with Iranian forces in Syria since February, stirring
concern that major escalation could be looming.
The
so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) saw Iran agree to limit
the size of its stockpile of enriched uranium – which is used to make reactor
fuel, but also nuclear weapons – for 15 years and the number of centrifuges
installed to enrich uranium for 10 years. Iran also agreed to modify a heavy
water facility, so it could not produce plutonium suitable for a bomb. In
return, sanctions imposed by the UN, U.S. and E.U. that had crippled Iran’s
economy were lifted. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful,
and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified its compliance
with the deal.
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