US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged that Iran is in 'technical compliance' with its obligations under the pact negotiated by the Obama administration and five other world powers. But he faulted Tehran for its non-nuclear activities in the Middle East — backing militias in Yemen and Syria, supporting terrorist groups and testing ballistic missiles.
"We have a lot of issues with Iran. They’re a yard long. The nuclear issue is one foot of that yard. We have two feet of other issues that we must deal with. And it has to do with Iran’s destabilizing activities," Tillerson said on CBS’s 'Face the Nation'.
The administration contends that Iran is violating the “spirit” of the deal, because in its preface it is stated that the nations negotiating it “anticipate that full implementation of this JCPOA will positively contribute to regional and international peace and security.”
Tillerson said that sentence explains, in a nutshell, why sanctions were lifted.
"But since the nuclear deal has been concluded, what we have witnessed is Iran has stepped up its destabilizing activities in Yemen, it stepped up its destabilizing activities in Syria, and exports arms to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, and it continues to conduct a very active ballistic missile program. None of that, I believe, is consistent with that preamble commitment," the Washington Post cited Tillerson as saying.
