Islam Times - Anti-Iran threats won’t affect US talks with N Korea: Trump

Islam Times - US President Donald Trump says his approach towards the Iran nuclear deal will not affect talks with North Korea.

Trump made the comment alongside Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House on Monday, when asked if violation of the internationally-backed deal would send the wrong message to Pyongyang.

“I think it sends the right message,” said the US president, falsely claiming that, “you know, in seven years, that deal will have expired and Iran is free to go ahead and create nuclear weapons… Seven years is tomorrow. That’s not acceptable.”

He further refused to announce if he would withdraw from the JCPOA.

“We’ll see what happens, I’m not telling you what I’m doing,” Trump said as a May 12 deadline was approaching.

His comments came minutes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a televised address to accuse Iran of violating the deal.

“That is just not an acceptable situation. They’re not sitting back idly. They’re setting off missiles, which they say are for television purposes. I don’t think so,” he said.

The US president did not rule out a new nuclear agreement with Tehran saying that his anti-Iran approach “doesn’t mean we won’t negotiate a real agreement.”

Tehran and Washington’s European allies have previously suggested that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action must be upheld and US withdrawal would strip it of the credibility necessary to negotiate a new deal.

Apart from that, the International Atomic Energy Agency has corroborated Tehran’s commitment to the pact, also backed by the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.

Trump’s latest comment comes as the country is trying to negotiate an agreement with North Korea, which is in possession of nuclear weapons.

This is while Iran has asserted that its nuclear program is merely peaceful and not meant to make nukes.