Trump: Iran has no choice but to negotiate to reach a new deal

The US president says that with his country's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran is no longer the same country it was before and has no choice but to negotiate to reach a real agreement with the US.

On Thursday, September 5, in a telephone conversation with Jewish leaders and rabbis, US President Donald Trump defended the cancellation of the nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), while referring to recent demonstrations in various cities in Iran protesting the dire economic situation, saying that Iran is currently "fighting for its own survival."

Speaking to the group by phone on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Hebrew New Year, he continued: “Iran is not the same country it used to be. I imagine they will call us in the not-too-distant future and try to reach an agreement. If we can reach a real agreement, we will. If they don’t call, that’s fine. Ultimately, they will have no other choice. Let’s see what happens.”

Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8 and announced that the country’s sanctions on Iran would return. The first round of sanctions, which covered the industrial and financial sectors, was implemented in mid-August, and the second round of sanctions, which targets Iran’s oil exports, is scheduled to take effect on November 4.

The US president has been a staunch opponent of the JCPOA from the start, repeatedly calling it a bad deal. He reiterated this point on Thursday, saying the deal had made Iran “more aggressive.”

In this phone call, Mr. Trump noted that he should have canceled the nuclear deal sooner, but at the time, then-US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was opposed to canceling the JCPOA.

The US president emphasized that this led him to postpone the cancellation of the JCPOA for a while, but ultimately decided to break the agreement.

Donald Trump fired Rex Tillerson from his position in late March, saying he "did not agree" with him on "some issues."

Mr. Trump at the time identified the JCPOA as one of the main points of disagreement with the former US Secretary of State, saying: "When you look at the Iran deal, I think it's very bad, but he (Tillerson) thinks it's fine. I was looking to cancel the deal or do something about it, but he thought a little differently. So we didn't have the same mindset."

Source: Radio Farda