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With VOA News report
US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. will pull out of the international nuclear agreement with Iran and reinstate sanctions.
“It is clear to me that we can not prevent an Iran nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement,” Trump said. “Therefore I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.”
Trump has frequently complained the 2015 Barack Obama-led agreement to ease sanctions against Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program is a “disaster.”
According to Trump, the agreement does not stop Iran from testing ballistic missiles and it lets certain nuclear-related provisions eventually expire.
Ahead of the announcement, Trump was under pressure from both sides, including European leaders who want the U.S. to stay in, and Israel, which accuses Iran of blatant lying and cheating.
French President Emanuel Macron was at the White House two weeks ago, saying he knows the deal with Iran is not perfect, but said there is no “Plan B.”
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was in Washington Monday, lobbying top Trump administration officials to stay in the pact. He met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and will talk later with Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Adviser John Bolton.
In a highly dramatic TV display last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought out what he said were “half a ton” of documents, charts, blueprints, and photographs proving Iran is still trying to build nuclear bombs despite the agreement.
Iran insists it has not violated the agreement and complains it has yet to see the economic benefits it was supposed to enjoy when sanctions were eased.
Tehran has always said it has no ambitions to build nuclear weapons but does have a right to a peaceful civilian nuclear program.
Prior to Trump’s announcement, Iran’s president anticipated the U.S. move but said Iran would move forward.
“It is possible that we will face some problems for two or three months, but we will pass through this,” President Hassan Rouhani said at a petroleum conference in Tehran Tuesday.
Iran’s state-run news agency said Rouhani will give a televised address after Trump’s announcement.