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Trump dumps Iran nuclear deal, to initiate new sanctions

 President Donald Trump finally announced on Tuesday the United States is no longer party to the Iran nuclear deal, pitting him against the United States’ closest allies and leaving the future of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in question.

“It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement,” Trump said from the White House Diplomatic Room. “The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing we know exactly what will happen.”

The decision further isolates Trump on the global stage, where he has angered even the staunchest US allies by reneging on US commitments to the Paris climate accord and pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Other signatories to the plan, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom have said they will maintain their commitments.

In a swift reaction, Iran’s President Rouhani said: “I have ordered Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran to be ready to start the enrichment of uranium at industrial levels. We will wait a few weeks and speak with our allies and those committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“All depends on our national interests.” He said Trump has ‘a history of undermining international treaties” Iranian state television said that Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal was “illegal, illegitimate and undermines international agreements”.

In announcing his decision, Trump said he would initiate new sanctions on the regime, crippling the touchstone agreement negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama who has reacted to the decision saying: “There are few issues more important to the security of the US than the potential spread of nuclear weapons or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. Today’s decision to put the JCPOA at risk is a serious mistake.” Trump said any country that helps Iran obtain nuclear weapons would also be “strongly sanctioned.”

“This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” the President said. “It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will.” Trump derided the deal as an embarrassment that gave the regime dollars at the same time it sponsored terrorism.

“At the point when the US had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regime and it’s a regime of great terror, many billions of dollars, some of it in actually cash, a great embarrassment to me as a citizen,” Trump said.

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