President Trump told reporters Wednesday morning that he has reached a decision on the Iran nuclear deal, the agreement that calls on Tehran to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but refused to reveal the decision itself.
“I have decided,” he said several times while sitting next to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. Pressed on what he’s decided, Trump only said, “I’ll let you know what the decision is.”
On Tuesday, Trump blasted the deal during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.” Despite his frequent criticism of the agreement, both on the campaign trail and in the White House, Trump has so far kept up the U.S. side of the deal and Iran has done the same.
When Trump plans to make his big reveal is unclear, but it will have to come by October 15. That’s the deadline for the Trump administration to certify Iran’s continued compliance with the deal, something it has to do every 90 days.
There have been indications for months, starting after the last certification in July, that the October deadline would be met with a different result, regardless of what Iran did in the intervening 90 days. According to Foreign Policy, Trump decided then that he would de-certify the deal on October 15 and assigned a team to make the case for him.
As Trump plays reality host and teases the decision, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani is warning him not withdraw from the deal. “Exiting such an agreement would carry a high cost for the United States of America, and I do not believe Americans would be willing to pay such a high cost for something that will be useless for them,” he told CNN.
How will this saga end? Will Trump really break up with Iran? Tune in next week to find out.
