- President Donald Trump announced the US’ withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal
- The nuclear deal was sealed during ex-President Obama’s era
- Trump, however, pulled the US out of the deal, calling it "decaying and rotten"
President Donald Trump has announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran.
Calling it "decaying and rotten", Trump said the deal was "an embarrassment" to him "as a citizen".
Going against advice from European allies, he said he would re-impose economic sanctions that were waived when the deal was signed in 2015, BBC reports.
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In response, Iran said it was preparing to restart uranium enrichment, key for making both nuclear energy and weapons.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said: "The US has announced that it doesn't respect its commitments.
"I have ordered the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran to be ready to start the enrichment of uranium at industrial levels."
Rouhani said he would "wait a few weeks" to speak to allies and the other signatories to the nuclear deal.
According to BBC, the US Treasury said economic sanctions would not be re-imposed on Iran immediately, but would be subject to 90-day and 180-day wind-down periods.
In a statement on its website, it said sanctions would be re-imposed on the industries mentioned in the 2015 deal, including Iran's oil sector, aircraft exports, precious metals trade, and Iranian government attempts to buy US dollar banknotes.
France, Germany and the UK, who are also signatories to the deal, have reportedly said they "regret" Trump’s decision.
The European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said the EU was "determined to preserve" the deal.
However, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he "fully supports" Trump's "bold" withdrawal from a "disastrous" deal.
President Trump had previously complained that the deal only limited Iran's nuclear activities for a fixed period; had failed to stop the development of ballistic missiles; and had handed Iran a $100bn (£74bn) windfall that it used "as a slush fund for weapons, terror, and oppression" across the Middle East.
Reacting to the withdrawal, the former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was involved in negotiating the deal, tweeted that pulling out of it risked "dragging the world back to the brink we faced a few years ago".
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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the re-election campaign team of President Trump disclosed on Sunday, April 15, that it raised $10 million in the first quarter of the year, leaving the re-election operation with $28 million in cash.
Trump’s re-election campaign finished 2017 with $22 million in cash. He reportedly spent $3.9 million in the first quarter.
Unlike presidents before him, Trump has opted to begin active fundraising in the early part of his first term.
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Source: Naija.ng
