Trump Waives Iran Sanctions In New Flip-Flop On ‘Terrible’ Nuclear Deal

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By Ron Kampeas May 18, 2017

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump waived nuclear sanctions on Iran, keeping in place the Iran nuclear deal he has derided, but added new sanctions relating to Iran’s testing of ballistic missiles.

The waiver Wednesday of sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program has been expected since last month, when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared Iran to be in compliance with the 2015 agreement that relieves sanctions in exchange for rollbacks in Iran’s nuclear program.

Tillerson at that time said the Trump administration would nonetheless review the terms of the deal because of Iran’s violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions related to ballistic missile testing, as well as its backing of terrorism and taking sides in regional unrest.

Missile testing and Iran’s involvement in terrorism and regional violence were not covered by the nuclear deal, and the Obama administration kept in place sanctions targeting Iran for those activities.

Trump during his campaign had derided the nuclear deal as the worst he had ever seen and said he would reconsider it, but unlike other Republican primary candidates, he did not say he would scrap it.

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