Pulling Out of JCPOA to Have ‘Disastrous’ Consequences for US: Sherman

“For one, this decision will breach the trust of America’s partners and isolate our country. The deal was agreed to by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — along with Germany and the European Union. It was then ratified unanimously by the full Security Council. All of these parties, except the United States, want to keep the accord in place,” Sherman said in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Monday.

She added, “If President Trump undermines the nuclear deal, the repercussions for American foreign policy will be disastrous: It will drive a wedge between the United States and Europe, weakening the critical trans-Atlantic relationship and increasing the influence of Iran, Russia and China. And when the president travels to China next month seeking support to deal with North Korea’s nuclear program, he will find the Chinese less willing partners. Washington’s credibility will be damaged for the next time we want countries to agree to something, such as condemning Iran’s malicious behavior in the Middle East or tightening the screws on North Korea. Indeed, we are likely to lose any possibility of dialogue with North Korea because Pyongyang will assume the United States will not honor its commitments, even on multilateral agreements. Unpredictability — a favorite self-justification for the president’s erratic actions — has its place as a negotiating tactic, but when it comes to war and peace, reliability and credibility matter most.”

“Whether the Trump administration’s decertification unravels the deal quickly or slowly, unjustified unilateral American action will give the Iranians the moral high ground, allowing them to rightly say that it was the United States, not them, who killed the deal. At the same time, if Iran stays in the agreement with the other countries who are party to it, the United States will lose any standing to bring concerns to the Joint Commission, the forum the agreement set up to oversee progress…”.

Meanwhile, German foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, also expressed concern that signals coming from Washington suggest president Trump will reject the Iran nuclear deal.

In a further development, The UN atomic agency chief Yukiya Amano said during a conference in Rome on Monday that Iran continues to abide by the 2015 nuclear deal.

"I can state that the nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the (nuclear agreement) are being implemented," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Amano said.

US President Donald Trump's team now faces an Oct. 15 deadline to tell Congress whether it will continue to certify that Iran is complying with the deal. If Trump refuses to certify, Congress will have 60 days to decide whether to re-impose US sanctions on Iran.

Last month, Trump, during an address before the United Nations General Assembly, said, "The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into frankly that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don't think you've heard the last of it”.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached the 159-page nuclear agreement in July 2015 and implemented it in January 2016.

Since the historic deal was signed in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republic’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.