Trump will not certify Iran nuclear deal: Tillerson

By Lalit K JhaWashington, Oct 13 (PTI) President Donald Trump willwithdraw presidential support for the landmark Iran nucleardeal by declining it...

By Lalit K JhaWashington, Oct 13 (PTI) President Donald Trump willwithdraw presidential support for the landmark Iran nucleardeal by declining its certification, but will stop short, fornow, of killing the accord, Secretary of State Rex Tillersonsaid today.

Instead of asking the Congress to immediately reimposesanctions on Iran, Trump is asking the Congress to carry outnecessary amendments in the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Actor INARA, which would trigger in automatic and immediatesanctions in case of Tehran violating the conditionsdetermined by it, Tillerson said.

"The President has come to the conclusion that he cannotcertify under INARA that the sanctions relief that wasprovided is proportionate to and affect the benefit that we’reseeing from that agreement,” he told reporters as Trump isscheduled to address the nation on the new Iran strategy latertonight.

In his speech, Trump will notify Congress that he is"decertifying" the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Planof Action, arguing that while Iran may be complying with theletter of the agreement, the accord is not in US interests,Tillerson said.

The Iran nuclear deal was signed by Iran and 5+1 group ofcountries (Britain, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany)in 2015 under which Iran agreed to freeze its nuclearprogramme for 15 years in exchange for sanctions relief.

"The intent is that we will stay in the JCPOA, but thepresident is going to decertify," said Tillerson.

Tillerson said JCPOA deals with nuclear activities onlyand that is only one piece of what concerns the US about Iran.

"We don't think that nuclear agreement should define theentire policy. Quite frankly in the past it is more or lesshas defined Iran policy," he said.

Noting that its nuclear programme is of big concern, hesaid but there are also many more immediate concerns that theUS has with TehranÂ’s destabilising activities in the region.

This includes their support of terrorist organisations,regional destabilising activities and their export of foreignfighters throughout the region to destabilise areas in supportof other terrorist activities.

"We are concerned about addressing those elements whichby and large have gone unaddressed in the past. On the onehand we want to examine the nuclear agreement understand howwe can use that in a very productive and forceful way but alsohow do we address all of these other issues,” Tillerson said,adding this is a much broader strategic approach that has beentaken with Iran in the past and it is built around.

"The intent is we will stay in the JCPOA,” he said.

Tillerson said this is to indicate to American partnersthat in the joint commission plan of action or JCPOA thatthere are some areas that were not addressed under the nuclearagreement that the Trump administration thinks require furtheraddressing most specifically the ballistic missile programmeand the expiry date.

"Whether that means a reopening of the agreement which isunlikely because Iran is not going to reopen the agreement,"he said.

"It is more likely means that we would undertake aninitiative to have a new agreement that doesn't replace theJCPOA but addresses these two issues and lays along beside theJCPOA," he said.

Again, that's going to require everybody's willingness toengage on the issues, he said.

"We have been having discussions with Europeansignatories for many months on this issue and we've even haddiscussions with the Iranians. I've indicated this to ForeignMinister Zarif when we saw each other on the margins of theUN," the Secretary of State said.

Responding to questions, Tillerson said the US is indiscussions with the European partners and others and isseeking their concurrence that they too should sanction theseactivities if they have the same concerns.

"They indicate they do have those same concerns, we areconvinced that none of these new sanctions will in any waybring anyone in violation of their obligations for sanctionsrelief under the JCPOA because these sanctions are beingimposed for non-nuclear activities,” he said.

According to Tillerson, the idea is to give the USleverage to negotiate a separate deal to eventually replacethe Iran deal.

"I think it helps us lay that groundwork for thesuccessor deal and we’ve said all along, the clock’s tickingdown,” Tillerson said.

"But part of this is we want to motivate the othersignatories and Iran, letÂ’s start the engagement now. So thatis one of the motivations," said the top American diplomat.

PTI LKJPMS.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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