WASHINGTON: Donald Trump backed away from a campaign promise to scrap a major nuclear security deal with Iran on Tuesday, with officials announcing the agreement and related sanctions relief will stay in place for now. During his election campaign Trump denounced the Obama-era deal, promising to renegotiate it and vowing to get tough on Iran. But the White House took pains to stress it was not going soft on Iran, pointing to new non-nuclear sanctions and stricter implementation of the deal. Ex-Marines like Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also keenly remember Iran-backed Hezbollah’s attack on the corps barracks in Lebanon in 1983. For its part, Iran’s complains of non-US compliance, accusing the US administration of failing to lift sanctions in line with the deal.

Source: Manila Times July 18, 2017 03:45 UTC