United States President, Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will withdraw the US from an Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran which he described as “decaying and rotten” and an embarrassment to him as a US citizen.
Going against the advice from several European allies including Germany, France and the United Kingdom, Trump said he would re-impose economic sanctions which were waived when the deal was signed in 2015 on Iran.
The US Treasury in a statement released on its website on Wednesday, said economic sanctions would be re-imposed on Iran immediately, but would be subject to a 90-day and 180-day wind-down period.
The statement added that the sanctions would affect the industries and sectors mentioned in the 2015 deal, including Iran’s oil sector, aircraft exports, precious metals trade and Iranian government attempts to buy US dollar bank notes.
Trump had complained that the deal only limited Iran’s nuclear activities for a fixed period and had failed to stop the development of ballistic missiles. He claimed the deal had handed Iran a $100 billion windfall that it used to fund the purchase of weapons, encourage terrorism and oppression across the Middle East region.
“It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of this deal. The Iran deal is defective to its core,” Trump said.
In response, Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani said his country was preparing to restart its uranium enrichment programme which is key to making both nuclear energy and weapons.
“The US has announced that it doesn’t respect its commitments. I have ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to be ready for action if needed, so that if necessary we can resume our enrichment on an industrial level without any limitations,” Rouhani said.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal saw Iran agree to limit the size of its stockpile of enriched uranium which is used to make reactor fuel and also nuclear weapons for 15 fifteen years and the number of certrifuges installed to enrich uranium for 15 years.
Iran also agreed to modify a heavy water facility so it could not produce plutonium suitable for a bomb and in return, sanctions imposed by the UN, US and the EU which had crippled its economy were lifted.
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