Trump pulls U.S. out of Iran deal, reinstates sanctions

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his country’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and says he will partially renew sanctions on Iran.

“It is clear to me that we cannot prevent a nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current deal.

“The fact is that this was a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never ever been made,’’ Trump said.

The 2015 agreement sealed by Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, with the support of China, Russia, Germany, France and the UK, eased sanctions on Tehran.

This was in exchange for commitments to halt what Western powers feared was a nuclear weapons programme.

France, Germany and the UK launched a diplomatic offensive in recent weeks attempting to persuade Trump not to scuttle the deal which aims to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Trump said he opposed the agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Since taking office, he has repeatedly threatened to pull the U.S. out of the pact, recently calling it a “horrible deal’’.