Daily Times

Western leaders continued to respond to United States president Donald Trump’s controversial move to dump Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday.

Barack Obama, the former US president, hit back in a statement lauding the deal as a “model for what diplomacy can accomplish.” He criticised Trump for withdrawing from the JCPOA, saying, “I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake.” He warned in the absence of the JCPOA “the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East.”

Former Secretary of State, John Kerry, the top U.S. diplomat who helped strike the deal under Obama’s reign, accused Trump in a statement of “throwing away measures aimed at preventing nuclear proliferation. In a tweet following the announcement by Trump, Macron said, “The nuclear non-proliferation regime is at stake.”

Meanwhile, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani sent mixed signals in a televised address. He said his government remains committed to a nuclear deal with world powers despite the U.S. withdrawal. However, he also warned they are ready to resume uranium enrichment should the agreement no longer prove beneficial to Iran.

Published in Daily Times, May 10^th 2018.