President Donald Trump will say the Iran nuclear deal is no longer in America’s national security interests, but he won’t withdraw from the landmark 2015 accord or immediately re-impose sanctions against Tehran, secretary of state Rex Tillerson, other US officials and outside advisers to the administration said on Friday.
Mr Trump’s speech from the White House on Friday afternoon will outline specific faults he finds in the pact but will also focus on an array of Iran’s troubling non-nuclear activities, said Mr Tillerson and other officials and advisers. Those include Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and other groups that destabilise the region, including in Yemen, human rights abuses and cyber warfare.
In his speech, Mr Trump will notify Congress that he is “decertifying” the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, arguing that while Iran may be complying with the letter of the agreement, the accord itself is not sufficient to be in US interests.
In remarks ahead of his address to a group of conservative voters, Mr Trump previewed his position by calling Iran “a terrorist nation like few others” and urged his audience to listen in.
His speech will put the onus on Congress to decide within 60 days whether to snap the sanctions back into place, modify the law or do nothing, according to Mr Tillerson.
Re-imposing sanctions would effectively kill the accord. Under the current law, Mr Trump faces a Sunday deadline to notify Congress whether Iran is complying with the accord that was negotiated over 18 months by the Obama administration and determine if it remains a national security priority.
