US Senator Expects Trump to Walk Away from JCPOA
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Republican US Senator Bob Corker, also the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he expects President Donald Trump to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers in May.
“The Iran deal will be another issue that’s coming up in May, and right now it doesn’t feel like it’s gonna be extended,” Corker told CBS in an interview broadcast on Sunday, according to Reuters.
“I think the president likely will move away from it unless my, our European counterparts really come together on a framework. And it doesn’t feel to me that they are,” he said.
Trump delivered an ultimatum to the European signatories on Jan. 12. It said they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal,” which was agreed under his predecessor Barack Obama, or he would refuse to extend US sanctions relief on Iran. US sanctions will resume unless Trump issues fresh “waivers” to suspend them on May 12.
Asked if he believed Trump would pull out on May 12, the deadline for the US president to issue a new waiver to suspend Iran sanctions as part of the deal, Corker responded, “I do. I do.”
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France, and Germany) reached the 159-page nuclear agreement in July 2015 and implemented it in January 2016.
Since the historic deal was signed in Vienna, the IAEA has repeatedly confirmed Iran’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.
