“After a contentious meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, this week, President Donald Trump instructed a group of trusted White House staffers to make the potential case for withholding certification of Iran at the next 90-day review of the nuclear deal,” Foreign Policy Magazine (FP) cited three unnamed sources close to the White House.
“The goal was to give Trump what he felt the State Department had failed to do: the option to declare that Tehran was not in compliance with the contentious agreement,” FP maintained.
Although FP has not revealed its sources’ identities but explains “[The three sources] were either invited to take part in the new process or were briefed on the president’s decision on certification.”
Based on the deal signed between Tehran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the European Union (EU), on July 14, 2015, the U.S. government is required to notify Congress every 90 days whether Iran is living up to the deal, or not.
It was along this obligation that President Trump’s administration certified Iran’s commitment to the deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, on Tuesday, July 18.
However, the U.S. administration reiterated that the Islamic Republic of Iran has not been committed to the ‘spirit’ of JCPOA.
Furthermore, a senior U.S. official said that Washington’s certification was made in spite of some reservation about Tehran’s commitment to JCPOA. That’s exactly why Trump was unhappy with the State Department’s performance, FP quotes its sources, as saying.
“All three sources said Trump specifically asked Tillerson at the previous review to lay the groundwork for decertification — which the sources said Tillerson failed to do,” FP added.