Trump to pull out of Iran nuclear deal: Report

Reported by Washington Times:

President Trump will announce Tuesday that he is pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, according to a report.

Mr. Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day of his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the deal, The New York Times reported, citing a person briefed on the conversation.

By quitting the Obama-era agreement, Mr. Trump will set course for the U.S. to reinstate economic sanctions that had been waived under the deal, potentially adding new sanctions against the Islamic regime in Tehran.

Mr. Trump has called the Obama-era agreement the worst deal ever made and has been threatening to walk away from it since he took office.

The agreement lifted economic sanctions on Iran in return for halting the Islamic regime’s nuclear program until 2025, but concerns continue about Iran’s missile program, support of terrorism and ability to rush into production of nuclear weapons in seven years.

The president’s decision would buck intense pressure from European leaders to stay in the deal and use it as a foundation for further measures to rein in Iran’s disruptive influence across the Middle East.

Mr. Macron pressed Mr. Trump to stay in the deal last month when visiting the White House, as did German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a separate visit.

France, Germany and the U.K., as well as China and Russia, joined the U.S. in negotiating the deal in 2015.

Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Trump chided former Obama Secretary of State John F. Kerry for engaging in secretive talks with European diplomats to try to rescue the deal he negotiated in 2015.