US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday criticized the nuclear deal, saying it would fail to prevent Iran from someday purchasing a nuclear weapon.
He stressed that the JCPOA fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran and "only delays their goal of becoming a nuclear state". Tillerson noted that Washington "has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on Iran".
"This deal represents the same failed approach of the past that brought us to the current imminent threat we face from North Korea," Secretary of State said of the nuclear deal.
He noted that one of the mistakes in the way the agreement was put together was that it ignored all the other serious threats Iran posed outside of its nuclear program.
"That’s why our view is that we have to look at Iran in a very comprehensive way in terms of the threat it poses in all areas, of the region and the world, and the JCPOA is just one element of that. And so we are going to review completely the JCPOA itself," Tillerson stressed.
He said that the nuclear deal is another example of "buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions". "we buy them off for a short period of time and then someone has to deal with it later," Secretary of State added.
The director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Yuri Rogulyov, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that it is yet difficult to comment on Washington's foreign policy moves, since the Trump administration has not yet been formed completely, there are no clear positions on a number of issues, there are no official documents, so there are fluctuations in its foreign policy and nature of statements changes quite quickly.
"The only thing that can definitely be said is that the current administration is trying to emphasize in every possible way its negative attitude to the policy pursued by the previous administration and the agreements reached by it. Trump tries to prove that he is not like Obama, and this desire yet prevails over meaningful moments," the expert explained.
He recalled that the JCPOA has been initially criticized, including in the United States. "I think that the issue of the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program has surfaced in the general negative chorus of statements related to Russia. The current administration seeks to refute the accusations that they are 'agents of the Kremlin' at the expense of Iran, Syria, and North Korea," Yury Rogulev concluded.
The head of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Academy of Sciences of Russia, Sergei Oznobishchev, in turn, recalled that Trump's position on Iran was tough even during his election campaign. However, there have yet been no concrete practical anti-Iranian steps, only loud statements, which, in the understanding of the new US administration, show that America is regaining its greatness.
Specific US actions in this direction, according to the expert, can be very powerful, but they do not achieve their goal, while causing serious negative consequences. "How are strikes on Syria and Afghanistan related to the fight against terrorism? Their significance is purely demonstrative, but in practice they help terrorists," the head of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Academy of Sciences of Russia emphasized.
Oznobishchev noted that Washington's claims to Tehran have no basis, since the key institution - the IAEA - has not yet reported any violations committed by Iran.
Among other things, the aggressive attitude of the United States can seriously complicate Russia-US relations. "I am confident that a meeting between the presidents of Russia and the US can play a significant role here," Sergei Oznobishchev concluded.
