Former President Barack Obama is calling President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal a "serious mistake" that will erode America's global credibility.
Obama's administration brokered the deal, and he said this morning that Trump's decision to withdraw is "misguided," especially because Iran has been complying.
Obama also warned: "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."
Obama said, without the deal, the U.S. "could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East."
He says the deal remains a model for what diplomacy can accomplish, including when it comes to North Korea.
Iran's president Hassan Rouhani, meanwhile, said there's a "short time" to negotiate with the countries remaining in the nuclear deal, warning his country could start enriching uranium more than ever in the coming weeks.
Rouhani made the statement immediately after Trump said he was pulling out of the deal, speaking live on Iranian state television.
He said he will be sending Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to countries remaining in the accord, and warned that "I have ordered Iran's atomic organization that whenever it is needed, we will start enriching uranium more than before." He says Iran would start this "in the next weeks."
Robert Patman says domestic politics has strongly influenced Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. (Source: Other)
The leaders of Britain, Germany and France urged the United States to refrain from taking action that prevents other signatories to the Iran nuclear deal from continuing to implement it.
In a joint statement Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran to "show restraint" and continue fulfilling its own obligations such as cooperating with inspection requirements.
They called on Washington to "ensure that the structures of the (deal) can remain intact, and to avoid taking action which obstructs its full implementation by all other parties to the deal."
Trump has said "any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States."
The Foreign Minister says it's a concern that there is not international unity on this issue. (Source: Other)
Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, praised Trump's withdrawal, calling it a "historic move."
He said leaving the Iran deal unchanged would be "a recipe for disaster, a disaster for our region, a disaster for the peace of the world."
Netanyahu is a leading critic of the deal, saying it did not contain sufficient safeguards to prevent Iran from reaching nuclear-weapons capability or address Iran's other activities across the region.
He says Iran's aggression has grown since the deal, especially in Syria, where he says it is "trying to establish military bases to attack Israel."
Earlier, Israel's military said forces were on high alert and ordered bomb shelters open in the Golan Heights after spotting "irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria."
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