US President Donald Trump is preparing to impose new sanctions on Iran, perhaps as early as next week, to ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons.
“We are 100 per cent committed to making sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a news briefing, a day after Trump announced the United States was withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“We’re going to continue to put maximum pressure, enormous sanctions on them.
“All of the sanctions that were in place before the deal are back in place and we are preparing to add additional sanctions that may come as early as next week.”
Speaking during an earlier Cabinet meeting, Trump says he is open to negotiating a new deal with Iran, but adds: “We’re going to make either a really good deal for the world or we’re not going to make a deal at all.”
Trump disregarded the pleas of US allies to remain in the agreement, and instead announced Tuesday that he would reinstate sanctions on Iran in the coming months.
Trump says the Iran deal was “one sided” and would have led to nuclear proliferation. He adds that he would “advise Iran not to start their nuclear program.”
Plans for further US sanctions come as French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump’s decision to exit the nuclear deal with Iran was “a mistake.”
Macron told two media outlets in Germany during a visit to the neighbouring nation on Wednesday that the accord needs to be “completed,” but stressed that it’s “the best way to control Iran defense nuclear activity.”
Speaking to DW TV and ARD, Macron said: “I regret the decision of the American president. I think it’s an error.”
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Macron was recently honored by Trump with the first state visit of a foreign leader and said he understood then that Trump was opting out.
Earlier, Macron spoke with the Iranian president, expressing France’s determination to keep in place the nuclear accord disavowed by Trump.
Macron told Hassan Rouhani in a telephone call on Wednesday that France wants to continue with the multilateral accord “in all its dimensions” and stressed the importance of Iran doing the same.
Macron noted the project to engage in talks with all parties concerned with the 2015 accord to reach a “mutually beneficial framework” on issues including the development of Iran’s nuclear program after 2025, when some restrictions are lifted. Macron’s office said that those talks would also encompass Iran’s ballistic missile activities and the main crises in the Middle East.
The French and Iranian leaders agreed to continue work with all concerned states.
Source » reuters