Agencies
Former US President Barack Obama has criticised President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, struck during Obama's presidency, as 'a serious mistake'.
Defying his European allies, Trump on Tuesday vowed to reimpose crippling sanctions on Tehran and warning that Iranians deserve a better government.
"I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake," Obama said in a statement, referring to the acronym for the agreement worked out by the United States, five other world powers and Iran.
Since leaving office in January 2017, Obama, a Democrat, has largely remained on the sidelines of the political debate, although he has criticized his Republican successor's efforts to undo some of his major policy achievements.
He has condemned Trump for pulling out of the Paris climate accord and for ending a program that shielded from deportation immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. He also spoke out against Trump's effort to unravel the Obamacare healthcare program.
Obama said the Iran agreement significantly rolled back Tehran's nuclear program and was a model for a possible deal Trump hopes to negotiate with North Korea to eliminate Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.
"That is why today's announcement is so misguided," Obama said.
"Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America's closest allies, and an agreement that our country's leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated," he said.
European powers, Russia and key trading power China vowed to save the accord and protect companies operating in the country.
Trump's move risks overturning years of diplomacy, worsening instability in the Middle East and threatens foreign companies' business in Iran worth billions of dollars.
Iran reacted furiously to Trump's decision, with lawmakers burning a US flag and chanting "Death to America" in the Iranian parliament. But its regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel applauded the US move.
Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday vowed that Germany, France and Britain would "do everything" to ensure that Iran remains in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
"We will remain committed to this agreement and will do everything to ensure that Iran complies with the deal," Merkel said, adding that Berlin had made the decision jointly with Paris and London.
The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany will meet Iranian representatives next Monday "to consider the entire situation," French Foreign Minister Le Drian told RTL radio.
Trump's advisor John Bolton said earlier that European firms doing business in Iran now have a six month deadline to wind up investments or risk US sanctions.
But Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran too would quit the nuclear deal unless Europeans offered solid guarantees that trade relations would continue.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China will maintain "normal economic and trade exchanges" with Iran despite Trump's decision.
Beijing will "remain in dialogue with all parties and continue to devote itself to safeguard and implement the deal," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti news agency that Putin in comments to his national Security Council expressed "deep concern over such a decision and once more stressed the importance of this document."
Trump described the 2015 accord as an "embarrassment" to the US that did nothing to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Trump said a deal with Iran would have to include not just deeper restrictions on its nuclear programme, but on its ballistic missiles and support for militant groups across the Middle East.
"We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction," he said. "We will not allow a regime that chants 'Death to America' to gain access to the most deadly weapons on Earth."
Iranian President Rouhani said Iran could resume uranium enrichment "without limit" in response to Trump's announcement. But he said Iran would discuss its response with other parties to the deal before announcing a decision.
The decision marked a stark diplomatic defeat for Europe, whose leaders begged the US leader to think again.
Trump's decision offers him a domestic political victory, fulfilling a longstanding campaign promise. But the long term impact for US foreign policy and for the Middle East was less clear.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday said that the United States will "lose in the end" from its decision.
Some analysts also warned the move would complicate US efforts to reach an agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over his country's own more advanced weapons programme.
Former CIA director John Brennan said Trump's move "gave North Korea more reason to keep its nukes".
