President Donald Trump will be presented with multiple options regarding the future of the Iran nuclear deal ahead of an October 15 deadline to certify whether Tehran is complying with the pact, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday. Earlier, Trump called the deal the “worst deal ever.”
The U.S. would have to impose sanctions on Iran again if the deal is entirely scrapped, but sources say that for now, that is not the plan. If Trump declines to certify Iran’s compliance, U.S. congressional leaders would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran suspended under the accord. Defense Secretary James Mattis said that he thinks that it is in the U.S. best interest to remain part of the nuclear deal. Unlike Mattis, Tillerson has been highly critical of the accord and said it must be changed.
If he proceeds, Trump would have to persuade France, Germany and the UK to join him and seek tougher terms. One of the them would be elimination of the sunset provisions. According to the critics, they open the path for Tehran to nuclear weapons in ten to fifteen years. The chief executive officer of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a foreign policy think tank, Mark Dubowitz even stated that the president should insist that the actual restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program become everlasting. He wants the same for testing advanced centrifuges, nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and buying and transferring conventional weaponry.
The president’s advisers agree with Dubowitz, but U.S.’s partners in Europe might not have the same wish for renegotiation of the deal. London and Berlin think that the deal functions very well, but the President of France, Emmanuel Macron said that he is open to revisiting the provisions. He also agrees that Iran’s behavior in the Middle East and Africa needs bigger control.
Tehran is firmly against any renegotiating. “It will be a great pity if this agreement were destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics. Iran will not be the first country to violate the agreement, but it will respond decisively and resolutely to its violation by any party,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in September.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said that Trump will receive multiple options regarding the future of the deal ahead of the deadline which expires October 15, but he did not give any details.
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