Trump fires Sec of State Tillerson over his approval of Obama’s Iran deal

Tillerson has publicly contradicted Trump on the Iran deal in the past, including during the current negotiations, and has advised Trump not to rip up the nuclear accord outright, whereas CIA director Mike Pompeo, has disagreed, advocating for a full U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 pact led by former President Obama.

By MICHAEL WILNER

 

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump unceremoniously fired his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, on Tuesday morning, in part over “disagreements” on the Iran nuclear deal and amid a critical negotiation with Europe over its fate.

Speaking to the press, Trump said that he had been mulling Tillerson’s ouster for some time. “When you look at the Iran deal – I think it’s terrible,” he said. “I guess [Tillerson] thought it was okay. I wanted to either break it, or do something, and he felt a little bit differently. So we were not really thinking the same. With Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process.”

Tillerson’s State Department is currently leading talks with Britain, France and Germany, hoping to come to an understanding on the future of the Iran deal by within the next eight weeks– a deadline set by Trump in January for the European powers to renegotiate major terms of the non-proliferation agreement.

Netanyahu pleads with the US Congress to seek a Better Deal, one that doesn’t usher in Iran’s ability to ‘nuke Israel’ in another decade.

Tillerson has publicly contradicted Trump on the Iran deal in the past, including during these negotiations. Trump, in January, said that he was giving Europe a “last chance” to fix the accord, and that he would not sign a waiver on nuclear-related sanctions in May without clear commitments from them. And yet Tillerson said the European allies would work on their own time.

The ousted secretary has also advised Trump not to rip up the nuclear accord outright. But his named replacement, CIA director Mike Pompeo, has disagreed, advocating for a full US withdrawal from the 2015 pact negotiated by former President Barack Obama, Iran and five other powers.

Trump wants an agreement with these three European nations– known as the “E3″– that will demand an end to Iran’s ballistic missile testing, which are not addressed by the nuclear deal; unrestricted access for UN nuclear inspectors to Iran’s military sites, which have in the past hosted nuclear weapons experimentation; and permanent caps on Iran’s enrichment of fissile material, which in the current deal sunset within ten to 15 years.

Rex Tillerson with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Photo: Official U.S. Department of State

Israeli officials tell The Jerusalem Post that they believe Trump is serious in his threat to withdraw from the deal. The US-E3 talks dominated Trump’s conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House last week.

The talks are scheduled to continue in Berlin on Thursday.

So far, European powers have expressed a willingness to engage on all of Trump’s concerns– but remain adamant that the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, must stay in place in its current form.

 

View original The Jerusalem Post publication at:
http://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Iran-deal-imperiled-as-Trump-ousts-Secretary-Tillerson-544969