While attending the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, President Donald Trump reverted back to “Reality TV Star” Donald Trump by telling reporters that he’s finally made a decision on the Iran nuclear deal, but is planning to keep the audience — err, American people — waiting with bated breath until he decides to reveal that decision. Back in July, Trump reluctantly renewed the sanctions deal and its accompanying sanctions relief program, despite having previously called it “catastrophic and “disastrous.”
The following month, the president threatened to leave the deal outright if new sanctions would be imposed, leading Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attack Trump’s negotiation skills. It’s unclear whether or not Rouhani’s jabs have any weight on his secret decision.
“I have decided” Trump repeated three times in response to shouted questions from reporters on whether he has made up his mind on the U.S. remaining in the Iran nuclear deal. Asked what he has decided, Trump smiled and said only that “I’ll let you know what the decision is.”
In March 2016, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps test-fired a series of ballistic missiles which were in defiance of new U.S. sanctions that had been imposed in January, following October launches that prompted the decision. Since then, Iran has continued to launch missiles, only to be greeted with more U.S. sanctions.
Withdrawing from the sanctions deal was one of Trump’s more fervent campaign promises. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump called the Obama-era deal “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into” and “an embarrassment to the U.S.,” claiming that we “haven’t heard the last of it.”
(Via Politico)