U.S. President Donald Trump has again denounced the Iran nuclear deal, hinting at the possibility of Washington pulling out of the 2015 agreement.
His comments have sparked concern in some quarters that they may deter North Korea from working out a nuclear agreement with U.S. with their summit a matter of weeks away.
Ro Aram reports.
At a joint press conference on Tuesday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, President Trump branded the Iran deal "insane" and "ridiculous."
He also warned Tehran against restarting its nuclear program.
"The Iran deal was a terrible deal. We paid $150 billion, we gave $1.8 billion in cash. That's actual cash - barrels of cash. It's insane, it's ridiculous, it should have never been made, but we will be talking about it….. It won't be so easy for them to restart. They're not going to be restarting anything, they restart it, they're going to have big problems - bigger than they've ever had before…"
The 2015 deal was reached during the Obama administration to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for eased sanctions.
President Macron agreed the deal had its downsides and that a new agreement should be made.
But he urged the U.S. not to pull out yet as it still allowed some control over Iran's nuclear program until the year 2025.
Some watchers have warned that Trump's renewed criticism of the pact may also hinder chances of working out a nuclear deal with North Korea, especially at a time when Pyongyang is warming to the idea of denuclearization.
They say that, if Kim Jong-un sees that President Trump cannot be trusted to honor the Iran deal, then he could assume Trump can't be trusted with a possible nuclear agreement with North Korea.
That would put any chance for meaningful talks on denuclearization in jeopardy before they even begin.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.
