International action on Iran's ballistic missile program could persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to remain in the Iranian nuclear deal, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday, according to The Associated Press.
Haley, who brought fellow Security Council ambassadors on a field trip to Washington, suggested that a concerted global effort to punish Iran for violating Security Council resolutions on ballistic missiles could persuade Trump it was worthwhile to remain in the nuclear deal.
She noted that France, a key member of the group that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal, had recently “started hitting” Iran rhetorically for violating ballistic missile resolutions.
Trump recently decided to extend a waiver on nuclear sanctions that were imposed on Iran. However, he said it would be the last time he will do so and ordered European allies and Congress to work with him to fix “the disastrous flaws” in the 2015 deal or Washington would withdraw.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Iran deal, one of his predecessor’s Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievements, as the worst ever negotiated by the U.S.
However, European countries have failed to see eye to eye with Trump on the nuclear deal and have expressed their support for the deal even as Trump has criticized it.
But Iran's nuclear aspirations are not the only concern for the international community. The Islamic Republic has several times test-fired ballistic missiles in recent months, raising the ire of the West.
Western countries say the tests are a violation of the UN resolution enshrining the 2015 nuclear deal. In it, Iran is “called upon” to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years. READ MORE
