Trump says Iran will pay if they relaunch nuke program
President Trump slammed Iran on Tuesday for threatening to restart its nuclear program if the US and France fail to salvage the 2015 nuke accord – saying “they will have bigger problems than they’ve ever had before.”
Flanked by French President Emmanuel Macron in the Oval Office, Trump hinted that an agreement could be negotiated about the landmark multinational nuclear accord.
“We’re looking forward to doing something but it has to be done and it has to be done strongly,” Trump said without explanation.
He launched his broadside at Tehran before the two leaders were to hold talks on an array of issues, including the nuclear accord and the war in Syria.
“You can mark it down, if they restart their nuclear program, they will have bigger problems than they’ve ever had before,” Trump warned.
He heaped scorn on the “terrible” accord, which was negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, describing it as “insane” and “ridiculous” because it did not address ballistic missiles or Iran’s activities in Syria and Yemen.
“What kind of a deal is it when you don’t talk about Yemen and you don’t talk about all the other problems that we have with respect to Iran?” he said.
“We made this terrible deal but we’re going to discuss it. It should have never been made,” he added.
Trump has said that unless European allies fix “terrible flaws” in the accord by May 12, he will restore US economic sanctions on Iran, dealing a severe blow to the pact.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear ambitions in return for relief from economic sanctions. Tehran argues that its nuclear program is only for peaceful means.
“It just seems that no matter where you go especially in the Middle East, Iran is behind it, wherever there’s trouble, Yemen, Syria, no matter where you have it, Iran is behind it,” he said Tuesday.
Macron came to Washington in hopes of persuading Trump to keep the US in the Iran agreement, saying it offered the best chance to constrain Tehran.
“On Iran, we must contextualize this subject within the challenges of the region. There is the situation in Syria, there is security in the entire region and I think, in any case, we share a common goal of avoiding an escalation and proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region,” Macron said.
The other powers that signed it — Russia, China, Germany and Britain – have all said they want to preserve the pact.
Trump’s rhetoric followed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s warning against a US pullout from the accord.
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“If someone wants to betray our nation and the deal, grave consequences will affect them,” Rouhani said Tuesday during a visit to the city of Tabriz.
Also Tuesday, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in a news conference broadcast on state TV that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran was ready for some “surprising actions” if the nuclear deal was scrapped.
Answering a question about the possibility of Tehran pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Shamkhani said: “This is one of three options that we are considering,” according to Reuters.
“We have welcomed the insistence of the European Union on keeping America in the JCPOA (nuclear deal),” Shamkhani said. “But if this means degrading the Islamic republic of Iran or paying a ransom to Trump, the Europeans are making a strategic mistake.”
With Post wires