US President Donald Trump has told French President Emmanuel Macron of France that he plans to announce the withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal.
According to a person briefed on Tuesday’s conversation, the US is preparing to reinstate all sanctions it had waived as part of the nuclear accord (JCPOA), in addition to imposing additional economic penalties as well, The New York Times reported.
A French source familiar with the call between Trump and Macron called the conversation " very, very disappointing."
The office of French president, however, denied the Times report, according to Reuters.
One senior European official, who was also involved in the Iran negotiations, told Reuters that that Trump would withdraw from the nuclear agreement.
Meanwhile, a US government official told AFP that Trump will announce he is pulling the United States out of the landmark nuclear deal.
"It's pretty obvious to me that unless something changes in the next few days, I believe the President will not waive the sanctions," one European diplomat told reporters on Monday, according to CNN.
In a tweet on Monday, Trump said he will announce whether Washington will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday afternoon. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany in July 2015.
Macron has warned that a possible US withdrawal from Iran's nuclear deal could lead to a war.
"I do not believe that Donald Trump wants war," Macron said on Friday. “My view — I do not know what your president will decide — is that he will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons."
Europe would implement the Iran deal as long as Iran complies with its obligations, said a German foreign ministry source, The Guardianreported.
“We Europeans continue to rely on the JCPoA and its full implementation out of our own security policy interests,” said the source. “The transparency and control arrangements of the JCPoA and the restrictions of the Iranian nuclear program have brought an increase in security,” the source said, adding that it would be important for all sides to keep in touch “to prevent an uncontrolled escalation."
Iran agreed under the deal with the US, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany to limit parts of its peaceful nuclear program in exchange for removal of all nuclear-related sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
However, Trump thinks that the JCPOA, achieved under his predecessor Barack Obama, is flawed and needs to be “fixed” or otherwise scrapped in its entirety.
In the run-up to the presidential election, he repeatedly slammed the deal. The anti-Iran rhetoric continued after Trump was elected as US president and received Israel's support.
A few months later, in January 2018, Trump gave an ultimatum to Washington's European allies to re-negotiate a better deal that would include Iran’s ballistic missile program as well as its regional influence otherwise he will withdraw.
In March, Trump fired his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after reports emerged that the two disagreed about a variety of issues including the Iran nuclear deal. He replaced him with more hard-liner Mike Pompeo.
European leaders have time and again voiced opposition to the US withdrawal from the historic accord. In weeks leading up to the May 12 deadline, top European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Macron and UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson went to Washington to discourage Trump from pulling out of the historic accord.