US President Donald Trump is unlikely to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, despite his repeated threats and recent decisions to replace two of more moderate members of his cabinet with Iran hawks, a lawmaker said.
"I do not think that the Americans will withdraw from the JCPOA because it is widely believed that the US establishment does not consider a pull-out from the JCPOA to be in the US interest," Morteza Saffari said in an interview with ICANA on Monday.
JCPOA stands for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal title of the landmark agreement between Iran and the six world powers to subject Tehran's nuclear work to time-bound constraints in return for relief from international sanctions.
Despite repeated confirmations by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the deal's verification body, that Iran has been fully compliant with its JCPOA commitments, the action plan has been under harsh attack from the Trump administration, who has criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for failing to drive a harder bargain when negotiating it.
Trump has demanded that the Europeans work with his administration on a supplemental deal to strengthen the nuclear agreement's terms.
The Republican hawk has threatened that, otherwise, he would withdraw from the pact by declining to waive US sanctions in May, a move that could effectively dismantle the UN-endorsed agreement.
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has warned that a collapse of the historic pact would be a "great loss".
Outright Rejection
Trump's demands, which also include fresh restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program and regional role, have all been rejected by Tehran.
He has nominated former CIA director Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, ex-ambassador to the United Nations, to replace Rex Tillerson and H.R. McMaster as US secretary of state and national security adviser respectively.
The move has boosted the prospect of Trump exiting the deal as both nominees are known for their hardline stance on Iran. Germany, France and Britain, the European signatories to the action plan, have backed Iran's position in ruling out a renegotiation of the accord but have engaged in talks with the Trump administration to convince him to stay in the deal.
The EU is considering a proposal for fresh sanctions against the Islamic Republic put forth by the three deal parties, criticized by the Iranians as an attempt to appease Trump's excessive demands.
Officials in Tehran have warned that they will quit the deal as soon as they find it unbeneficial and will rapidly resume uranium enrichment to degrees of purity beyond the limits set by the deal.
