Trump: U.S. Will Not Certify That Iran Is Complying With Nuclear Deal
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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump says he will not re-certify the Iran nuclear deal because the country is not living up to the spirit of the deal and has committed "multiple violations."
Trump says during a White House speech Friday that he "cannot and will not make this certification."
Trump says he is directing his administration to work closely with Congress to address the deal's "many flaws" and to make sure the country can never threaten the U.S. with nuclear weapons.
He says that if Congress can't come up with new legislation, he will terminate the Obama-era pact.
Any decision to re-impose nuclear-related sanctions would automatically kill America's participation in the deal.
Trump's move is essentially a compromise that allows him to condemn the accord but stop short of torpedoing it.
Trump says the administration will seek to counter the regime's destabilizing activities and will impose additional sanctions on the regime to block its financing of terrorism.
The president says the new strategy will also seek to address the proliferation of Iran's missiles and weapons.
And he says the U.S. will deny Iran's paths to develop nuclear weapons.
Trump says that the deal was "one of the worst" and most "one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into."
Trump is arguing the sanctions lifted by the deal gave the country's leaders a "lifeline" when they were in financial trouble.
And he says the deal delivered weak inspections in exchange for no more than a temporary delay in Iran's path to nuclear weapons.
(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
