Nobel winning anti-nuclear group urges Trump not to quit Iran deal

The nuclear weapons disarmament campaign group that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on Monday urged US President Donald Trump to uphold the Iran nuclear deal to "avoid causing any more conflict."

"We really call on the US government to continue to certify and stay in this deal," Beatrice Fihn, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) told a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York.

"This is not really what the world needs right now... We see no evidence that Iran is not complying with it," she added.

Trump is a stern critic of the 2015 accord, which he has called "the worst deal ever," and officials say he intends to tell US Congress next week that Tehran is not honoring its side of the bargain.

US officials insist this will not sink the deal itself but open the way for Congress to develop new measures to punish other aspects of Iran's behavior.

The nuclear agreement was struck in July 2015 by Iran and five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) plus Germany -- establishing controls to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic bomb.

On Monday, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran was complying with the deal.

"I can state that the nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran ... are being implemented," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said, giving prepared remarks during a conference in Rome.

'Negative consequences' if Trump quits Iran deal: Kremlin
Moscow (AFP) Oct 9, 2017 - Moscow warned on Monday there would be "negative consequences" if US President Donald Trump fails to uphold the landmark Iran nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor.

Trump is a fierce critic of the 2015 accord, which he has called "the worst deal ever", and US officials say he intends to tell Congress next week that Tehran is not honouring its side of the bargain.

"Obviously if one country leaves the deal, especially such a key country as the US, then that will have negative consequences," Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said.

"We can only try to predict the nature of these consequences, which we are doing now," Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Putin has repeatedly hailed the importance of the existing deal, he added.

Trump is expected to announce that he is "decertifying" Iran's compliance with the agreement it signed to limit its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

US officials insist this will not sink the deal itself but open the way for Congress to possibly develop new measures to punish other aspects of Iran's behaviour.

Resumed sanctions could derail the accord negotiated with Tehran by former president Barack Obama and other major world powers.

Congress requires the president to certify Iranian compliance with the deal every 90 days. The next certification date is October 15.

Under the law, Congress would then have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions lifted by the deal.

With decision looming, Trump blasts Iran over nuke deal
Washington (AFP) Oct 5, 2017
US President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted Iran has not acted in keeping with a deal to curb its nuclear program, days before he must decide on the future of the accord. "They have not lived up to the spirit of the agreement," said Trump, as he huddled with military leaders ahead of perhaps the most consequential foreign policy decision of his young presidency. "The Iranian regime su ... read more

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