ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - United States President Donald Trump imposed the 'maximum pressure' policy on Iran in response to its efforts to enrich its nuclear capabilities and prevent Tehran from acquiring an atomic weapon, the White House said on Tuesday.
Trump restored his National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-2) against Iran ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said that he is “unhappy” about reimposing sanctions on Tehran and expressed interest in negotiating a deal.
“Iran’s behavior threatens the national interest of the United States. It is therefore in the national interest to impose maximum pressure on the Iranian regime to end its nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and stop its support for terrorist groups,” the White House said in a statement.
Trump said that he hopes the document will rarely by used but warned that Tehran is “too close” to a nuclear weapon.
“With me, it’s very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. We don't want to be tough on Iran. We don't want to be tough on anybody. But they just can't have a nuclear war,” Trump said while signing the memorandum.
Iran responded on Wednesday and called the maximum pressure strategy a “failed experience.
“I believe that maximum pressure has been a failed experience, and retrying it will once again result in another failure,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, as reported by the state IRNA news agency.
Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for much-needed relief from crippling sanctions.
But the deal began unraveling in 2018, when Washington, under Trump’s first administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed a sanction regime of “maximum pressure” on the Islamic republic.
The “snapback” mechanism described in the nuclear deal restores United Nations sanctions against Iran that were lifted under the agreement.
In December, Iran said they would consider dropping out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in case the “snapback” mechanism is enforced.
Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and it is not seeking to develop a weapon.
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