Trump reluctantly lets WH say Iran still complying with nuke deal
The Trump administration told Congress for a second time Monday that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal and can keep getting sanctions relief, even as it insisted Tehran would face consequences for breaching "the spirit" of the deal.
President Trump, who lambasted the 2015 pact as a candidate, gave himself more time to decide whether to scuttle it or let it stand. Instead, senior Trump administration officials sought to emphasize their deep concerns about Iran's non-nuclear behavior and vowed that those transgressions won't go unpunished.
In a shift from Mr. Trump's previous threat to "rip up" the deal, officials said the administration was working with U.S. allies to try to fix the deal's flaws, including the expiration of some nuclear restrictions after a decade or more.
The officials also said the U.S. would slap Tehran with new sanctions penalizing it for developing ballistic missiles and other activities.
The late-night announcement capped a day of frenzied, last-minute decision-making by the president, exposing deep and lingering divisions within his administration about how to deal with a top national security issue.