Trump Keeps US in Iran Nuclear Deal for 3rd Time

He called it "the worst deal ever," and on Friday he extended it for the third time during his presidency, the New York Times reports. A senior administration official tells Politico that President Trump once again chose not to reinstate the sanctions that were suspended as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Friday was the deadline to do so. However, Trump apparently warned it would not happen again. “The president makes clear this is the last such waiver he will issue,” an official tells the Washington Post.

The next deadline for reinstating the sanctions against Iran is in May, and the official says Trump will do so and remove the US from the nuclear deal at that time unless European allies agree to changes to the deal meant to permanently stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. Those changes include adding "triggers," such as inspections of Iranian facilities, and removing "sunset clauses" that allow Iran to enrich uranium and more. While not reinstating sanctions related to the nuclear deal, Trump did impose new sanctions on 14 Iranian people and organizations in response to recent violence against protesters there. (More Iran stories.)