Tillerson expects international allies to be ‘very supportive’ of renegotiating Iran deal

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that he expects U.S. allies around the world to be “very supportive” of the Trump administration’s efforts to rework the Iran nuclear agreement.

In remarks to reporters before a meeting with the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, Tillerson said that America’s allies would support the president’s renewed effort to deal with the threat Iran poses in the Middle East.

{mosads}”I fully expect that our allies and friends in Europe and in the region are going to be very supportive in efforts undertaken to deal with Iran’s threats,” the secretary said Friday.

President Trump announced Friday that the U.S. would declare Iran noncompliant with the 2015 agreement, but fell short of abandoning it completely.

“I am announcing today that we cannot and will not make this certification,” Trump said during a speech at the White House.

Tillerson said that Trump’s decision to declare Iran noncompliant presented a “real opportunity” for the U.S. and its allies to address more of Iran’s actions in the region. 

“I think we have a real opportunity to address all the threats that are posed by Iran,” Tillerson added. “I think the plan the president’s laid out has been quite clear in terms of articulating those threats; that really, it’s in all of our interests to work together.”

On Thursday, Tillerson compared the Iran deal to past administrations’ efforts to negotiate with North Korea’s government over that country’s nuclear weapons program.

“What we really have is a count down clock to when Iran can resume its nuclear weapons development program,” Tillerson told reporters Thursday. “That sounds an awful like some North Korean deals that we’ve seen in the past.”