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Iran nuclear deal: Boris Johnson heads to Washington as Trump considers scrapping agreement

President has signalled plans to pull the US out of deal he described as 'the worst ever'

Lizzy Buchan
Political Correspondent
Sunday 06 May 2018 00:24 BST
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Foreign secretary Boris Johnson heads to Washington as US looks to pull out of Iran nuclear deal
Foreign secretary Boris Johnson heads to Washington as US looks to pull out of Iran nuclear deal

Boris Johnson will travel to the United States as part of last-minute diplomatic efforts to deter Donald Trump from scrapping the Iran nuclear deal.

The president has signalled that he plans to pull the US out of what he has described as “the worst deal ever”, which has eased sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Mr Trump will decide on 12 May whether to reimpose sanctions, effectively tearing up the 2015 agreement between Britain, the US, France, Germany, Russia and China, and Iran.

The foreign secretary will meet senior figures during the two-day trip, including vice president Mike Pence and Mr Trump’s hawkish new national security adviser John Bolton – both of whom have been critical of Iran and the deal.

He was also expected to discuss North Korea, ahead of President Trump’s planned meeting with Kim Jong-un, as well as the situation in Syria following the recent airstrikes.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Mr Johnson said: “On so many of the world’s foreign policy challenges the UK and US are in lockstep.

“We’ve seen this recently with the response to the poisonings in Salisbury, our strong response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria, and the effort to denuclearise North Korea.

“The UK, US, and European partners are also united in our effort to tackle the kind of Iranian behaviour that makes the Middle East region less secure – its cyber-activities, its support for groups like Hezbollah, and its dangerous missile programme, which is arming Houthi militias in Yemen.”

The president gave international allies an ultimatum to fix his concerns with the deal, which include the failure to address Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the terms of how inspectors visit suspected sites.

Earlier this month, Mr Johnson stressed the importance of keeping the deal “while building on it in order to take account of the legitimate concerns of the US”.

The EU has said the deal “is working and it needs to be preserved”.

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