WASHINGTON: The United States will continue working with its allies to ensure Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Tehran.
“We will continue to work alongside our allies and partners to ensure that Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon, and will work with others to address the range of Iran’s malign influence,” Mattis said in a hearing before the US Senate Appropriations Committee.
“This administration remains committed to putting the safety, interests, and well-being of our citizens first,” Mattis said.
Trump on Tuesday pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal with Iran, raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upsetting European allies and casting uncertainty over global oil supplies.
The 2015 agreement, worked out by the United States, five other world powers and Iran, lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for its agreement to limit its nuclear program. The pact was designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.
Trump’s decision has intensified the strain on the trans-Atlantic alliance since he took office 16 months ago. A number of European leaders came to Washington ahead of Trump’s decision on Tuesday to plead with him to preserve the deal.
The Trump administration kept the door open to negotiating another deal with allies, but it is far from clear if the Europeans would agree to that approach and if they could convince Iran to accept it.
Last year, Mattis said the United States should consider staying in the Iran nuclear deal unless it was proven that Tehran was not abiding by the agreement or that it was not in the US national interest to do so.
In the hearing on Wednesday, Mattis said Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal had not been a hasty one.
“The president could not affirm as required that this agreement was being lived up to and in the best interest in all aspects of what was supposed to be happening under the JCPOA,” Mattis said, using an acronym for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name of the nuclear deal with Iran.
“I think we now have the opportunity to move forward to address those shortcomings and make it more compelling,” Mattis said. He added that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were working on the issue.
US, allies working to address Iran nuclear deal shortcomings : Mattis
US, allies working to address Iran nuclear deal shortcomings : Mattis
North Korea says it respects Iran’s choice of new supreme leader: KCNA
- North Korea, a longstanding US adversary, has previously condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran an “illegal act of aggression”
- Defying US President Donald Trump’s desire to have a say in who runs Iran, the Islamic republic on Sunday named Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father, longtime ruler Ali Khamenei, who died in an Israeli airstrike on February 28
SEOUL: North Korea respects Iran’s choice of new supreme leader, state media reported Wednesday, as it accused the United States and Israel of destroying regional peace.
“With regard to the recent official announcement that Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected the new leader of the Islamic Revolution, we respect the rights and choice of the Iranian people to elect their supreme leader,” an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by state news agency KCNA.
Defying US President Donald Trump’s desire to have a say in who runs Iran, the Islamic republic on Sunday named Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father, longtime ruler Ali Khamenei, who died in an Israeli airstrike on February 28.
North Korea, a longstanding US adversary, has previously condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran an “illegal act of aggression.”
On Wednesday, the North Korean spokesperson reiterated that position, saying that the United States and Israel “are destroying the regional peace and security foundations and escalating instability worldwide.”
“Any rhetorical threats and military action, which violate the political system and territorial integrity of the relevant country, interfere in its internal affairs and openly advocate the attempt to overthrow its social system, deserve worldwide criticism and rejection as they can never be tolerated,” the spokesperson added.
In recent months, the Trump administration has mounted a push to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, eyeing a potential summit between the US president and the North’s Kim Jong Un this year.
After largely ignoring those overtures for months, Kim recently said that the two nations could “get along” if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status.
