U.S. President Donald Trump talks with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a meeting with members of his Cabinet at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
By Yeganeh Torbati
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump disagree over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and said the two men discuss how to use the international agreement to advance administration policies.
Trump at times vowed during the 2016 presidential election campaign to withdraw from the agreement, which was signed by the United States, Russia, China and three European powers to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for lifting most Western sanctions.
Trump has preserved the deal for now, although he has made clear he did so reluctantly after being advised to do so by Tillerson.
“He and I have differences of views on things like JCPOA, and how we should use it,” Tillerson said at a State Department briefing, using the acronym for the deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Tillerson said that Washington could “tear it up and walk away” or stay in the deal and hold Iran accountable to its terms, which he said would require Iran to act as a “good neighbor.”
Critics say the deal falls short in addressing Iran’s support for foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, arms shipments around the Middle East and ballistic missile tests.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tillerson’s remarks.
Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last month that he predicts Iran will be judged “noncompliant” with the Iran deal at the next deadline in October, and that he would have preferred to do so months ago.
Tillerson expressed a more nuanced view of the deal’s potential benefits on Tuesday.
“There are a lot of alternative means with which we use the agreement to advance our policies and the relationship with Iran, and that’s what the conversation generally is around with the president as well,” Tillerson said.
European officials would likely be reluctant to re-impose sanctions, especially the broader measures that helped drive Iran to negotiate over its nuclear program in the first place, he said.
New U.S. sanctions on Iran in July were a breach of the nuclear deal and Tehran had lodged a complaint with the body that oversees the pact’s implementation, a senior Iranian politician said.
Tillerson acknowledged that the United States is limited in how much it can pressure Iran on its own and said it was important to coordinate with the other parties to the agreement.
“The greatest pressure we can put to bear on Iran to change the behavior is a collective pressure,” he said.
(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; editing by Grant McCool)
Iran is a sworn enemy of the United States of America and has been, making alliances with Hitler during WWII to not only support him but join him in the destruction of freedom around the world. They keep their own people in bondage and expect us to acquiesce to their demands. They think nothing of taking hostages, including Americans, and keeping them imprisoned for years, as an act of their “friendly” attitude towards the West. Sorry, but they cannot be trusted any more than the Muslims of anywhere! Their taquia is their method and Islam is their facade called a religion , when it is truly an ideology instead. Their sworn goal is strict adherence to the Koran and in it it directs them to kill the infidel, by various and sundry means and that everyone must become subject to Islam. Sorry, but we are not going to be able to trust them. Mr. T. is going to find out the hard way they do not keep their word and that they are only playing him as in their chess game of conquering the world. They are behind all the terrorist organizations that exist today, their seat being the Iatola, who takes his instructions from his ‘leader’, in their pursuit of world domination. Mr. Trump would be wise to listen to his own heart and do what he feels is best and not be persuaded or seduced into something else. President Trump is more than capable of handling all these decisions and does not need advisors, or handlers like the NWO crowd who are mind controlled. That is why the NWO hates him because he can think for himself, which is what they detest. They are truly satan’s agents in implementing Islam over the world so they can continue to pull the strings of the gold and all wealth that is available, as if they were going to take it with them, to HELL!