United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has joined with the United States in calling for a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Johnson broke with European allies Germany and France on Monday at the United Nations General Assembly in calling to scrap the deal negotiated under the Obama administration in 2015.
“Whatever your objections to the old nuclear deal with Iran, it’s time now to move forward and do a new deal,” Johnson said.
“How do we respond to what the Iranians plainly did?” Johnson said, agreeing with the U.S. assessment that Iran was behind recent attacks against Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. “What the U.K. is doing is trying to bring people together and de-escalate tensions.”
President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran deal in 2018, instituting sanctions that have crippled Iran’s ability to do business with other countries. French President Emmanuel Macron has led efforts to bring Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani into negotiations to lift the sanctions.
Iran has continued to cross limits set in the Obama-era deal. Trump has pushed for a stiffer deal to ensure that Iran will never get nuclear capabilities. Trump praised Johnson for the British leader’s comments.
“That’s why he’s a winner and that’s why he’s going to be successful in the U.K. I respect Boris a lot and I’m not surprised he was the first to come out and see that,” Trump said at the U.N. assembly.
