Biden slams Trump over pulling out of Iran deal: ‘It took years’ to achieve

Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed President Trump on Tuesday for his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear accord, saying “it took years” to form the agreement and that no next step is apparent. 

Biden suggested that the Trump administration would be hard-pressed to more effectively curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions. 

“Talk of a ‘better deal’ is an illusion,” Biden said in a statement. “It took years of sanctions pressure, painstaking diplomacy, and the full support of the international community to achieve that goal. We have none of that in place today.”

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Biden called Trump’s move to pull the U.S. out of the multilateral accord, which could possibly unravel entirely the 2015 agreement that allows international inspection of the country’s nuclear facilities in exchange for sanctions relief, a “profound mistake” and “unnecessary crisis” that alienates key allies. 

Leaders from United Kingdom, Germany and France, which are parties to the agreement, have all urged Trump in recent weeks to stay in the deal.

“All it will likely accomplish is to put Iran back on the path to a nuclear weapon with no clear diplomatic way out,” Biden said, warning that the U.S. is now on a “collision course not only with an adversary but also with our closest partners.”

Trump said Tuesday in his announcement that the current deal could not prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and that the U.S. would promptly enforce “the highest level of economic sanctions.”