Middle East expert Dalia Kaye said in an interview that aired Thursday on “Rising” that the multination Iranian nuclear deal could begin to fall apart completely after Tehran announced it would stop complying with parts of the agreement.
“I think the Iranians are trying to send a message, especially to the Europeans, who they would like to see continue their economic relationship as promised with Iran,” Kaye, the director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the Rand Corporation, told Hill.TV’s Saagar Enjeti on Wednesday.
“The problem is even if the Iranian intention isn’t to completely blow up the deal, the result may be the unraveling of this agreement because I think a lot of folks in Washington, and probably in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, will start questioning the Iranians’ commitment to this agreement,” she continued.
“This was also pretty predictable with the chain of events starting with the U.S. withdraw a year ago,” Kaye said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on Wednesday that Tehran would pull out of parts of the Obama-era agreement unless other countries agreed to start selling Iranian oil despite the threat of U.S. sanctions within 60 days.
Wednesday marked the first anniversary of President Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, which gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it would impose additional sanctions on Tehran “very soon.”
— Julia Manchester
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