Washington — President Donald Trump hosted two European leaders this week who lobbied him to stick with the Iran nuclear deal, but there was little indication their efforts swayed his urge to walk away from the landmark pact.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on his first full day on the job, said on Friday in Brussels that it was “unlikely” Trump would remain in the accord after a self-imposed May 12 deadline, barring a “substantial fix” negotiated with European leaders.
Speaking on the margins of a NATO summit for foreign ministers in Brussels, Pompeo said that no decision has been made but that he was communicating Trump’s position to allies in Europe and the Middle East.
“Absent a substantial fix, absent overcoming the flaws of the deal, he is unlikely to stay in that deal,” said Pompeo, who next visits Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan.
In Washington, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Trump at the White House on Friday for a three-hour working session. Iran topped the agenda, along with Syria, trade and NATO.
European allies have warned that leaving the 2015 multinational Iran accord would have dangerous consequences and might encourage Tehran to resume its now-blocked nuclear program. U.S. and European diplomats have met several times to negotiate possible supplemental agreements to address Trump’s concerns.
Merkel and Trump clearly did not see eye to eye on Friday on the wisdom of pulling out of the nuclear deal.
“I set out my position, and … obviously, this agreement is anything but perfect,” Merkel said at a joint news conference. “It will not solve all the problems with Iran. It is one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure.
“We will now see what sort of decisions are made by (the) American partners,” she said, adding that the United States and Europe “ought to be in lockstep” on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Trump repeated his characterization of the Islamic Republic as a “murderous regime” that was the driving force behind militant groups across the Middle East. “We must ensure it doesn’t even get close to a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Trump would not say whether he had an alternative to the nuclear deal or whether he would use force to stop Tehran from resuming its nuclear program.
“I don’t talk about whether or not I’d use military force. That’s not appropriate to be talking about,” he said. “But, I can tell you this, they will not be doing nuclear weapons; that I can tell you, OK? They’re not going to be doing nuclear weapons. You can bank on it.”
Merkel met with Trump two days after French President Emmanuel Macron made a similar pitch during a state visit to Washington. The United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China signed the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, and United Nations monitors have repeatedly found Iran in compliance with its terms.
Under the accord, Iran destroyed or dismantled the bulk of its nuclear infrastructure and shipped its nuclear fuel out of the country under strict monitoring. In exchange, a network of international economic sanctions were eased and seized property, including cash held in U.S. banks, was returned to Tehran.
Trump has said he will decide by May 12 whether to pull out of the accord and unilaterally reimpose U.S. sanctions on Tehran. It’s unclear how quickly he would apply sanctions, however, which could buy time for further negotiations.