Responding to US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, former US President Barack Obama released a statement calling the move “misguided.”
“Walking away from the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] turns our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professional negotiated,” Obama wrote. “In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.”
The statement went on to say that that 2015 agreement wasn’t “just an agreement between my administration and the Iranian government.”
“After years of building an international coalition that could impose crippling sanctions on Iran, we reached the JCPOA together with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China, and Iran. It is a multilateral arms control deal, unanimously endorsed by a United Nations Security Council Resolution,” the statement concluded.
Speaking to reporters, Trump called the agreement a “horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” and suggested that it was “defective at its core.” Trump added that US sanctions would now go into effect against Iran.
“Washington will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail,” POTUS said, stressing that his decision would lead to a “much safer” America.