Trump's allies encourage him to withdraw from Iran’s deal: Officials

CAIRO – 10 May 2018: The United States’ decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday, May 8, was not a surprise to the people who have been monitoring Donald Trump’s statements since he was a presidential candidate in 2016.

The United States' allies including the Middle Eastern countries and France encouraged Trump to pursue his decision; those countries supported the U. S. stance, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Andrew Peek, and Deputy Director of Policy Planning, David Tessler.

During a press briefing on the U.S. decision to withdraw from the agreement between the P5+1, the European Union and Iran on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the two American officials explained several details about the withdrawal decision.

They affirmed during their statements that Trump is seeking to impose political pressure on Iran until it changes its behaviors to achieve stability and security in the Middle East and the world.



The accusations of toppling or changing Tehran’s regime were completely denied by the two officials; they also affirmed that the United States is not having any disagreements with its European allies over the withdrawal decision and that dialogue among all parties is ongoing.

Moreover, the two diplomats said that the U.S. has been holding discussions to reach another deal with Iran and put new choices on the table.

It was assured that Trump was encouraged to move forward with the decision by the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron and his Middle East allies, who welcomed the decision shortly after it was announced, saying that they will handle any consequences of the decision in the economic field and in the oil market.

Describing the US talks with Europeans, Peek said, “These are good building blocks to move forward as we engage with the Europeans. We reached together to an agreement as a result of our long work for decades and quickly realized that we share similar prospection of the problem…Those agreements, and results that we reached regarding Iran’s deal would serve as good building blocks towards the next phase of our engagements with the Europeans.”

A lot of talks have also taken place between the United States and Israel before announcing the decision; however, the two officials refrained from revealing the details of these talks during the conference.

“We held real discussions with the Israeli government for about a month before the decision and especially during the past two weeks. We wanted to make sure that we were engaging them closely. All our talks are sensitive and confidential,” the officials stated.

They affirmed that the administration is trying to avoid any state of war with Iran. They assured that Trump thinks that putting economic and political pressures on Iran will make the needed changes.

They pointed out that they are keen to maintain and preserve their allies' economic interests in Tehran; however, “Iran’s regime has to bear the consequences of its behaviors.”

On May 8, President Trump announced the US withdrawal from the “defective” multinational nuclear deal with Iran. “The Iran deal is defective at its core,” Trump said in a televised address from the White House. “I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.”