Australia joins international condemnation of end to Iran nuclear deal

Australia has joined international criticism of Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran.

Donald Trump speaks to the media at the White House yesterday. Picture: AFP

Australia has joined European ­nations and Japan in condemning Donald Trump’s move to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran, signalling a new era of US confrontation with the Middle Eastern nation.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned last night that Tehran would quit the deal unless its European signatories offered solid guarantees that trade relations would continue after the US withdrew.

Addressing Iran’s government in a televised speech, Ayatollah Khamenei said: “If you don’t succeed in obtaining a definitive guarantee — and I really doubt that you can — at that moment, we cannot continue like this.”

Hours earlier, in his most sweeping foreign-policy decision as President, Mr Trump said the US would reimpose the toughest possible sanctions against Iran and any nation that helped it to build a nuclear weapons capability. “We cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bom­b under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement,’’ he said. “In just a short period of time the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapon. We will not allow a regime that chants ‘death to America’ to gain access to the most deadly weapons on earth.”

The move came despite ­intense lobbying by US allies. “France, Germany and the United Kingdom regret the US decision to get out of the Iranian nuclear deal,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.

Australia and Japan echoed Europe’s disappointment, reflecting a situation where Canberra is at odds with its close ally Washington on yet another issue after Mr Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Climate accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “Certainly we regret the decision of the US. We encourage all parties to continue to comply with the deal and we certainly will do everything we can to support that,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the ABC.

 

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was criticised by some conservatives for moving too fast to co-operate with the Islamic regime in 2015 when she supported the Obama administration’s joint comprehensive plan of action.

She said yesterday the plan should remain until there was a better alternative. “While the US decision creates uncertainty for the future of the JCPOA, we strongly encourage Iran to continue to abide by its provisions,” she said. “Australia shares ... concerns about elements of Iran’s behaviour in the Middle East and urges all parties in the region to refrain from conduct which contributes to instability or conflict.”

Beijing is a party to the deal, and a Chinese diplomat said all parties involved should stick to the pact.

Barack Obama said yesterday that without the JCPOA, the US could “eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East”.

Iranian President Hasan Rowhani said he remained committed to the nuclear deal but he threatened to boost uranium enrichment. He said the deal would survive in the short-term. But he also said he had ordered the country’s “atomic industry organisation to be fully prepared for subsequent measures ... in case of need we will start our industrial enrichment without limitations”. Mr Trump said that at the heart of the deal was a “giant fiction” that a “murderous regime” desired only a peaceful nuclear energy program. “This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never been made,” he said. “It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace and it never will.”

The deal, signed by the US, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, lifted sanctions against Iran in return for curbs and regular inspections of its nuclear program to ensure it did not pursue a nuclear weapons program. Mr Trump said the deal provided only “weak limits” on Iran’s nuclear capability and did nothing to address other security concerns such as Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its sponsorship of terrorism in the Middle East.

The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany will meet Iranian representatives on Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

Additional reporting: Greg Brown, Agencies