Trump warned Iran on Sunday to “be careful” as the latter threatened to increase uranium enrichment.
By World Israel News Staff
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that “Iran better be careful” after it announced it was going to start loading up on enriched uranium and pass a limit it agreed to under the 2015 nuclear accord.
“Iran better be careful because you enrich for one reason, and I won’t tell you what that reason is, but it’s no good,” Trump said to reporters when asked about Iran’s latest announcement.
Iran increased its uranium enrichment Sunday, inching its program closer toward weapons-grade levels. The country’s leaders were open about the move, which is part of a strategy to pressure the European signatories to the agreement to find a way around U.S. sanctions.
The Europeans and Iran want to see the deal stay in place, in large part for the economic benefits.
America’s departure from the agreement in May 2018 and its renewal of sanctions put a kibosh on the anticipated benefits from the renewal of trade.
In late June, the Europeans were reportedly working to get a barter-trade agreement up and running. It’s designed to avoid triggering more sanctions while offering some economic benefits to Iran in order to convince its leaders to stick with the agreement.
Besides the U.S., the deal’s signatories include Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union.
The Iranians view the other signatories as their only hope as the Trump administration is determined to bring Iran to heel through a hard-nosed approach.
Three Republican senators on Tuesday reflected this attitude in a letter to Trump urging him not to give into Iran’s ‘nuclear blackmail.’
“Regime officials have signaled they intend to creep towards a nuclear weapon, while demanding concessions and promising to ‘reverse’ their violations if their demands are met,” Sens. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), Tom Cotton, (R-Ark.), and Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.), wrote.
The senators urged Trump to invoke a “snapback mechanism.” Built into U.N. resolution 2231, it permits the signatories to restore sanctions if there’s evidence of violations.
“Paragraph 10 of the resolution defines the United States as a participant for the purpose of invoking the mechanism. We urge you to do so,” the senators wrote.
Fox News quotes Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who said that invoking the snapback mechanism, “would also mean the Rouhani government’s policy of playing both sides of the Atlantic against one another would have failed.”
The news outlet also quotes a senior GOP congressional staffer who said, “Snapback is quickly becoming the only game in town, now that Iran has violated the deal.”