Nuclear war with Iran is a bigger threat than North Korea, US admits as they slam warmongering Tehran for ‘alarming provocations’
Rex Tillerson said Iran may follow the path of nuke-mad North Korean despot Kim Jong-un
NUCLEAR war with Iran is a bigger threat than with North Korea, the US warned as it blasted Tehran for “alarming provocations”.
The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Iran may follow the path of nuke-mad North Korean despot Kim Jong-un if the region is left unchecked by world leaders.
He accused Iran of supporting terrorism and destabilising the Middle East as the Trump administration launched a review of the Iran nuclear deal.
Taking a tough stance, he said: “Whether it be assassination attempts, support of weapons of mass destruction, deploying destabilising militias, Iran spends its treasure and time disrupting peace.
“An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea – and take the world along with it.”
Mr Tillerson accused Iran of a series of “alarming and ongoing provocations that export terror and violence”.
He said the landmark 2015 nuclear deal will fail to prevent the Islamic regime from becoming a nuclear power.
The Iran deal “represents the same failed approach to the past that brought us to the current imminent threat that we face from North Korea”, Mr Tillerson told reporters.
“The Trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran.
“The evidence is clear: Iran’s provocative actions threaten the United States, the region and the world.”
The review will look at Tehran's compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal and its behaviour in the region which Tillerson said undermined US interests in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.
His tough words matched those of US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis who said Iran's destabilising influence would have to be overcome to end the conflict in Yemen.
President Donald Trump ordered the review to see whether suspension of sanctions related to the nuclear deal was "vital to the national security interests of the United States".
Tillerson said the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers failed "to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran and only delays their goal of becoming a nuclear state."
Iran has yet to comment on the Trump administration's review, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned in November that Tehran would retaliate if the US breached the agreement.
Tillerson said one of the mistakes in the way the agreement was put together was that it ignored all the other serious threats Iran posed outside of its nuclear program.
"That is why we have to look at Iran in a very comprehensive way in terms of the threat it poses in all areas of the region and the world," he added.
"This deal represents the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea," Tillerson said of the nuclear deal.
The nuclear agreement, negotiated during Barack Obama's presidency, placed limitations on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions against Iran.
Tillerson's notice to Congress was part of a 90-day process in which the president has to certify that Iran is complying with the nuclear accord. It is the first update under the Trump administration.
The next test of Trump's attitude toward the nuclear deal will be in May when he must decide whether to extend sanctions waivers for Iran first signed by President Barack Obama.
During his presidential campaign, Trump called the agreement "the worst deal ever negotiated" and said he would review it once he reached office.