Trump leaves Iran nuke deal hanging

Washington : President Donald Trump launched a tougher strategy to check Iran’s “fanatical regime” yesterday and warned that a landmark international nuclear deal could be terminated at any time.

In a much-anticipated White House speech, Trump stopped short of withdrawing from the 2015 accord, but “decertified” his support for the agreement and left its fate in the hands of Congress.

And, outlining the results of a review of efforts to counter Tehran’s “aggression” in a series of Middle East conflicts, Trump ordered tougher sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and on its ballistic missile program.

Trump said the agreement, which defenders say was only ever meant to curtail Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, had failed to address Iranian subversion in its region and its illegal missile programme.

The US president said he supports efforts in Congress to work on new measures to address these threats without immediately torpedoing the broader deal.

“However, in the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated,” Trump said, in a televised address from the Diplomatic Room of the White House.

“It is under continuous review and our participation can be canceled by me as president at any time,” he warned.

Simultaneously, the US Treasury said it had taken action against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards under a 2001 executive order to hit sources of terror funding and added four companies that allegedly support the group to its sanctions list.

Cuba, Venezuela sanctions to stay

U.S. President Donald Trump also said that the United States would maintain sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela until they restore political and religious
freedom.

“We’re confronting rogue regimes from Iran to North Korea and we are challenging the communist dictatorship of Cuba and the socialist oppression of Venezuela,” Trump told a conservative political conference. “And we will not lift the sanctions on these repressive regimes until they restore political and religious freedom for their people.”