Hillary Clinton slams Trump administration after Iran exceeds enrichment limits

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slammed the Trump administration in a series of tweets Tuesday over Iran’s enrichment of uranium.

“When the Trump administration threatened to pull out of the Iran deal and impose more sanctions last year, it was clear that we’d lose our leverage and Iran would be free to do what it wanted,” the former 2016 presidential candidate tweeted. “Predictably, Iran is now exceeding enrichment limits the deal once imposed.”

{mosads}She added that the Iran deal, which was negotiated by the Obama administration, along with the U.K., Germany, France, China and Russia, in order to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, had blocked the country from getting a bomb but that the Trump administration had chosen a more “dangerous path.”

“As I said after the Iran deal was reached, it was not perfect but it achieved its fundamental mission of blocking every pathway for Iran to get a bomb,” she wrote. “So far, the administration has consciously chosen a dangerous path leading to a riskier future. But diplomacy is still the only way for the administration to climb out of the hole they’ve dug.”

When the Trump administration threatened to pull out of the Iran deal and impose more sanctions last year, it was clear that we’d lose our leverage and Iran would be free to do what it wanted.

Predictably, Iran is now exceeding enrichment limits the deal once imposed.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 9, 2019

By withdrawing from the deal, the administration has effectively broken up the international coalition that was unified in constraining Iran, and now Iran is once again increasing its nuclear capability.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 9, 2019

As I said after the Iran deal was reached, it was not perfect but it achieved its fundamental mission of blocking every pathway for Iran to get a bomb.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 9, 2019

Diplomacy is not the pursuit of perfection. It is the balancing of risk.

So far, the administration has consciously chosen a dangerous path leading to a riskier future. But diplomacy is still the only way for the administration to climb out of the hole they’ve dug.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 9, 2019

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which measures Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, said Monday that the foreign country had exceeded limits set by the deal on its permitted uranium enrichment. 

“Director General Yukiya Amano has informed the IAEA Board of Governors that Agency inspectors on 8 July verified that Iran is enriching uranium above 3.67% U-235,” the IAEA said in a statement Monday, although it didn’t say to what purity level the country was enriching its uranium. 

An Iranian atomic energy agency spokesperson told the semi-official ISNA news agency that the country had “surpassed the 4.5 percent” enrichment level.