American Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the U.S. is going to stay in the Iran nuclear deal despite President Trump’s actions this past week — and that was mostly about sending a message to North Korea.
Haley said on “Meet The Press” Iran is in compliance with the deal when it comes to the nuclear weapons development aspects. However, they are not complying with the spirit of the deal because they’re still sponsoring terrorism around the world and threatening the United States and Israel.
“Well, I think right now you are going to see us stay in the deal, because what we hope is that we can improve this. We could improve the situation, and that’s the goal,” she said. “We’re not trying to get out of the deal, we’re trying to see how we could make it better. We’re trying to make the situation better.”
Haley said the real reason the United States is cracking down on the Iranians is to show North Korea what the U.S. expects when it enters a deal with a nuclear power.
She said the U.S. is often looking over at North Korea to see what they’ll do on a day-to-day basis because the hermit kingdom was allowed too much leeway by past administrations. She said the U.S. is trying to show things are different now.
“The whole reason we are looking at this Iran agreement is because of North Korea,” she said. “When you look at the fact of 25 years of botched agreements and negotiations and accountability not kept by North Korea, that’s the whole situation that got us to where we are having to watch day-by-day to see if they do an [intercontinental ballistic missile] test going forward.”
“What we’re saying now with Iran is, don’t let it become the next North Korea. So, what this says to North Korea is, don’t expect us to engage in a bad deal and also if at any point we do come up with something, expect us to follow through with it. Expect us to hold you accountable.”
