WHITE HOUSE - Saying Iran is not living up to the spirit of a two-year-old nuclear agreement it signed with Western powers, President Donald Trump Friday unveiled a tough new strategy toward Tehran, including additional sanctions aimed at blocking the regime’s path to develop nuclear weapons.
“Today, I am announcing our strategy along with several major steps we are taking to confront the Iranian regime’s hostile actions and to ensure that Iran never — and I mean never — acquires a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in a nationally televised address at the White House.
He stopped short of pulling the United States out of the 2015 deal involving Iran, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany and the European Union. But he said he would no longer certify Iran’s compliance with its terms, effectively giving Congress 60 days to consider whether further action is necessary.
“We cannot and will not make this certification,” Trump said. “We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran's nuclear breakout.”
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He said he had directed his administration to “work closely with Congress and our allies to address the deal's many serious flaws, so that the Iranian regime can never threaten the world with nuclear weapons.”
“In the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated,” Trump said. “It is under continuous review and our participation can be canceled by me, as president, at any time.”
The president also announced additional sanctions against Iranian individuals and leaders, including members of the brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“The Revolutionary Guard is the Iranian supreme leader’s corrupt personal terror force and militia,” Trump told the nation. “I am authorizing the Treasury Department to further sanction the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for its support for terrorism and to apply sanctions to its officials, agents and affiliates.”
Briefing reporters on the new policy Thursday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made clear that the new policy would not alter the U.S. commitment to the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
It does, however, require Congress to reconsider the Iranian Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), a U.S. law that requires the president to certify every 90 days that Iran is complying with the accord.
Tillerson said the administration is urging Congress to strengthen the INARA law to include “trigger points” that would automatically snap sanctions back into place should Iran violate the deal.
He said congressional action to set trigger points would send a strong message of U.S. resolve to ensure Tehran does not develop nuclear weapons.
“That’s what the president has asked us to do. Either put more teeth into this obligation Iran has undertaken for all the benefits and the sanctions relief they have received … or let’s just forget the whole thing and we'll walk away and we'll start all over,” he said.
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Congressional Republican leaders immediately promised support for the new strategy and pledged to work with the president.
Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would introduce legislation to address the JCPOA. Corker said the bill would not violate the U.S. commitment to the nuclear deal.
A group of House Republicans led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce of California and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Texas issued a statement saying the JCPOA has “significant flaws that must be addressed.”
“We'll take an important step to that end on the House floor by passing bills to increase sanctions unrelated to JCPOA that target Iran’s support for terrorism and its ballistic missile program," the statement said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan issued a similar statement.
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Democratic reactions were more critical.
Sen. Bob Melendez, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump's move to decertify Iran's compliance does nothing to achieve U.S. policy objectives.