On Friday, President of the United States Donald Trump said that he is not going to sign off on the Iran nuclear deal any longer. Signed in 2015, the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers – the US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China, imposed curbs on the Iranian nuclear program. In exchange, international crippling sanctions were lifted.

Trump said that the Iranian regime, which he described as “fanatical”, has been violating the terms of the agreement and said that it is a sponsor of terrorism. He proposed new sanctions, saying that the United States “will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror, and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout”.

The president is obliged to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal every 90 days. Despite recertifying them twice already, this time he has refused to. Congress now has to decide whether to reimpose sanctions. It has 60 days to decide on this.

He wants the “sunset” clauses of the deal to be cancelled. The so-called “sunset” clauses basically lift restrictions on Iran’s nuclear enrichment programmes in less than a decade.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has said that it supports Trump’s decision to not recertify the deal because Iran is not in full compliance. It pointed out that Iran has denied access to nuclear inspectors of its military sites, making it impossible to verify if Iran is working on activities related to nuclear weapons.

It also highlighted that Iran has reportedly tried to acquire “illicit nuclear and missile technology outside JCPOA-approved channels” dozens of times last year alone. It is also pointed out that Iran is still conducting ballistic missile tests and is still transferring illicit arms despite UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and CEO of UANI Mark D. Wallace said: “UANI also applauds the administration for its focus on the problematic non-nuclear aspects of Iran’s behavior – including increased sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). For too long, Iran’s support for terrorism, regional meddling, and human rights abuses have been overlooked by the international community in an attempt to make the Iran nuclear deal work. Today’s strategy is a warning to the Iranian regime that the status quo remains unacceptable.”

The new U.S. strategy to combat Iran’s aggression and hostility is also welcomed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia released a statement saying that it once supported the Iran nuclear deal because it was necessary to ensure that there are limitations in place with regards to its proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. However, this never happened.

The statement said: “Instead, Iran exploited the economic benefits of lifting the sanctions and used them to continue to destabilize the region, especially through its ballistic missile development program and support of terrorism in the region, including the Houthi militias in Yemen and ‘Hezbollah’.”

The UAE’s Foreign Ministry said that it was time that the Iranian regime is stopped in its spread of destructions and chaos across the Middle East, emphasising that the US strategy will take the “necessary steps to confront Iran’s malign behavior in all its forms”.

Bahrain also welcomed the steps, saying that it is a reminder to the international community that it is essential to combat terrorism and to make the Middle East and the world “more peaceful and stable”.

Source » ncr-iran