President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday against resuming its nuclear weapons program, a day after announcing that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the landmark Iran nuclear deal.
“I would advise Iran not to start their nuclear program,” Trump told reporters at the start of a Cabinet meeting when asked about the potential consequences. “I would advise them very strongly. If they do there will be very severe consequence.”
The comments came a day after Trump announced he was withdrawing the U.S. from the accord with Iran, abruptly restoring harsh sanctions in the most consequential foreign policy action of his presidency. He declared he was making the world safer, but he also deepened his isolation on the world stage and revived doubts about American credibility with a rationale that contradicted the analyses of U.S. and foreign intelligence sources.
The 2015 agreement, which was negotiated by the Obama administration and included Germany, France and Britain, had lifted most U.S. and international economic sanctions against Iran. In exchange, Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program, making it impossible to produce a bomb and establishing rigorous inspections.
But Trump, a severe critic of the deal dating back to his 2016 presidential campaign, said Tuesday in a televised address from the White House that it was “defective at its core.”
On Wednesday, he claimed the deal “was going to lead to nuclear proliferation all over the Middle East” and bragged the sanctions would be among the strongest “that we’ve ever put on a country.”
Trump also pointed to Iran’s actions in countries including Syria and Yemen.
“With all of the places they’re involved, it’s bedlam and death and we can’t allow that to happen,” he said, adding: “They’ve gotta understand life. ‘Cause I don’t think they do understand life.”
U.S. allies in Europe had tried to keep Trump in and lamented his move to abandon it. Iran’s leader ominously warned his country might “start enriching uranium more than before.”
The sanctions seek to punish Iran for its nuclear program by limiting its ability to sell oil or do business overseas, affecting a wide range of Iranian economic sectors and individuals.
Major companies in the U.S. and Europe could be hurt, too. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that licenses held by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus to sell billions of dollars in commercial jetliners to Iran will be revoked. Certain exemptions are to be negotiated, but Mnuchin refused to discuss what products might qualify.
He said the sanctions will sharply curtail sales of oil by Iran, which is currently the world’s fifth largest oil producer. Mnuchin said he didn’t expect oil prices to rise sharply, forecasting that other producers will step up production.
Iran’s government must now decide whether to follow the U.S. and withdraw or try to salvage what’s left with the Europeans. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he was sending his foreign minister to the remaining countries but warned there was only a short time to negotiate with them.
Trump also left open the possibility of a new deal, and told reporters Wednesday: “We’ll make either a really good deal for the world or we’re not going to make a deal at all. He predicted Iran would choose to negotiate eventually, or face consequences.
The administration said it would re-impose sanctions on Iran immediately but allow grace periods for businesses to wind down activity. Companies and banks doing business with Iran will have to scramble to extricate themselves or run afoul of the U.S. government.
Meanwhile, for nations contemplating striking their own sensitive deals with Trump, such as North Korea, the withdrawal will increase suspicions that they cannot expect lasting U.S. fidelity to international agreements it signs.
Former President Barack Obama, whose administration negotiated the deal, called Trump’s action “misguided” and said, “The consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.”
Yet nations like Israel and Saudi Arabia that loathed the deal saw the action as a sign the United States is returning to a more skeptical, less trusting approach to dealing with adversaries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Trump’s announcement as a “historic move.”
Trump said Tuesday that documents recently released by Netanyahu showed Iran had attempted to develop a nuclear bomb in the previous decade, especially before 2003. Although Trump gave no explicit evidence that Iran violated the deal, he said Iran had clearly lied in the past and could not be trusted.
Iran has denied ever pursuing nuclear arms.
In a burst of last-minute diplomacy, punctuated by a visit by Britain’s top diplomat, the deal’s European members had given ground on many of Trump’s demands for reworking the accord, according to officials, diplomats and others briefed on the negotiations. Yet the Europeans realized he was unpersuaded.
In Iran, many are deeply concerned about how Trump’s decision could affect the already struggling economy. In Tehran, Rouhani sought to calm nerves, smiling as he appeared at a petroleum expo. He didn’t name Trump directly, but emphasized that Iran continued to seek “engagement with the world.”
(AP)
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I just heard this from a rabbi. For MANY YEARS The Iranian Terrorist Regime Shouted DEATH TO AMERICA (Including This Week In Iranian Parliament!) and DEATH TO ISRAEL! They Support the Terror Groups With Money, Weapons such as Missiles and guns and training of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and the Houtis who Are Threats to our Allies in the Persian Gulf, Israel has provided PROOF Iran has also worked on Developing Nuclear Weapons and It IS Known on Their Missiles They Often scrawl To Israel and Declared Often Israel will not Last long. They also had many Holocaust Denial Events! They Clearly Aim to Destroy the Millions of Jews in Israel. Under OBAMA there is been Unprecedented PRESSURE on ISrael to Give Up ALL LAND to the DANGEROUS 1967 Borders and welcome in the Hamas and others closer to those borders and kick out hundreds of thousands of Jews living in such places as JERUSALEM or HEBRON or Judea and Samaria and lose Access to Most Jewish Holy sites! OBAMA With Europe Met with These ENEMIES OF THE JEWS and MADE A DEAL! Right out of teh PURIM STORY (Book of Esther in Bible) They KNEW the Intentions of these Savages and said We Will Also Give you Hundreds of Billions of Dollars! As King Achashverosh Told Hama keep your Gold and be Free to Kill All The Jews!! For WHAT ELSE WILL THESE TERRORISTS DO WITH THE MONEY! And the “DEAL” CLEARLY IS LIMITED To 15-20 Years – Its Very Clear!! But these were Also THREATS TO USA AND WORLD SECURITY! As BALLISTIC MIILE work Can Continue till THEY CAN REACH THE USA AS NORTH KOREA CAN and by the endof the Deal Can Fire Nuclear Missiles at EUROPE AND THE USA! NOW COMES PRESIDENT TRUMP And SAYS NO MORE! Iran Have Supported the Taliban and Al Qeda and Hamas and Hezbollah and Have Spread Their Hostile Forces into YEMEN and Iraq and Lebanon and Syria!! This is a THREAT to The WORLD! THIS IS MORAL CLARITY! AND ORAL CLARITY IS NEEDED FOR WORLD SECURITY! Enemies Of Peace And Civilization Must Be Confronted! If Need Be DESTROYED! This Was the Doing of President Trump! G-d Bless President Trump!