Trump’s Policy on Nuclear Deal Signals Difficult Days

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he expects US President Donald Trump to try and renegotiate the nuclear accord, indicating “difficult days” ahead.

In remarks published by the Tehran-based newspaper Ettelaat, Zarif said neither Iran nor other signatories will accept the reexamination of the 2015 landmark accord that lifted a host of sanctions on Iran in return for curbing its nuclear program, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.  Trump said during the presidential campaign that he wants to “tear up” or renegotiate the terms of the deal he called “a disaster”. While he has not repeated these statements since stepping into the White House, his administration on Friday imposed sanctions against a list of entities accused of having ties to Iran’s missile program after Tehran carried out a ballistic missile test. “I believe Trump may try to renegotiate,” Zarif, who led the Iranian team that negotiated the agreement, said. “So, we will have difficult days ahead.” The UK, Germany, France, China and Russia remain supportive of the accord.  UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who met this month with Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—another critic of the deal, said on Monday that the nuclear deal was “vital” and needed to be “properly enforced and policed”.