President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, keeping a campaign promise, but ignoring the advice of America’s allies.
The president said he is removing the U.S from the Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and will reimpose economic sanctions on Iran at “the highest level of economic sanction” and target “any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons” with sanctions, too.
Trump announced his decision at the White House after a last-ditch effort by European allies to urge Trump to stay in the agreement and build upon it. Trump instead argued the deal was so bad that it had to be discarded to move forward.
“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. “The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen.”
The nuclear deal was negotiated and agreed to by Iran and the P5+1 – the U.S., U.K., France, China, Russia, and Germany – in 2015, granting Iran sanctions relief and returning frozen assets in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program and international inspections.
ABC News’ Tara Palmeri, Benjamin Siegel and Mary Bruce contributed to this report.
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