Obama warns Trump not to jettison Iran nuke deal
US President Barack Obama on Monday marked the first anniversary of the nuclear deal with Iran by emphasising its "significant and concrete results" and warning against undoing a pact supported by the world's major powers.
In language that seemed clearly directed at incoming president Donald Trump, who is set to take office on Friday, a White House statement said "the United States must remember that this agreement was the result of years of work, and represents an agreement between the world's major powers -- not simply the United States and Iran."
It said the deal had "achieved significant, concrete results in making the United States and the world a safer place" and "verifiably prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
Such a diplomatic solution, it added, was "far preferable to an unconstrained Iranian nuclear program or another war in the Middle East."
Trump has often denounced the nuclear deal, and in a Sunday interview with the Times of London and Bild newspaper of Germany he continued his criticism, saying, "I'm not happy with the Iran deal, I think it's one of the worst deals ever made."
But he declined to say whether he intended to "renegotiate" the deal, as he asserted regularly during the presidential campaign.
Meanwhile, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday there was no chance of Iran renegotiating the nuclear deal with world powers if US President-elect Donald Trump demands it.
"The nuclear deal is finished, it has been approved by the UN Security Council and has become an international document. It is a multilateral accord and there is no sense in renegotiating it," said Rouhani at a news conference.
"Mr Trump, the president-elect, has made various statements that the nuclear deal does not satisfy him, that it was not a good deal or even that it was the worst deal ever," said Rouhani.
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