9 May 2018 10:58 am
DPA, 08th MAY, 2018
The world will soon find out whether Trump’s rants about the 2015 deal will produce a concrete shift in US diplomacy, regarding one of the most important foreign policy issues of his presidency.
Trump officially has until Saturday to decide whether to reintroduce US sanctions on Iran, which among other things could spell an end to the accord. But he has said he will announce his decision at 2 pm (1800 GMT) on Tuesday.
In January, Trump renewed waivers for US sanctions on Iran, but warned that it was the last time he would do so unless several “disastrous flaws” in the agreement were addressed. His ultimatum triggered a 120-day period that ends this weekend.
There is a growing consensus in the United States that his decision will effectively pull the US out of the deal, and that prospect has been accompanied by a range of speculation over what comes next.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he didn’t know what Trump would decide, but after several meetings with the president over a three-day state visit recently he said: “My view ... is that he will get rid of this deal on his own for domestic reasons.”
“The president campaigned on getting out of the deal and I think that he’s going to do so,” Lieutenant General William G Boykin said on Thursday on Fox News. Iranian leaders already have pledged to abandon the deal if the US withdraws. But it could remain in the deal with Britain, France and Germany, along with China and Russia, which have expressed their continued support.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned meanwhile that if Trump withdraws, it could risk war.