Trump fired Tillerson so US can scrap nuclear deal: Iranian minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – An Iranian official on Wednesday said the Trump administration was “determined” to walk away from the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, pointing to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s sacking as the first step.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, said US President Donald Trump fired Tillerson so Washington could leave the nuclear pact.

“The United States is determined to leave the nuclear deal, and changes at the State Department were made with that goal in mind – or at least it was one of the reasons,” he was quoted as saying by state-run news agency ISNA.

On Tuesday, Trump announced that Tillerson would leave his post as Secretary of State and be replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The US President told reporters at the White House that he “got along quite well” with Tillerson although he admitted they “disagreed on things.”

Trump has often criticized the 2015 nuclear deal, which Iran signed, promising to halt its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions. His new Secretary of State, Pompeo, is known to have a much stricter position against Tehran and its nuclear capabilities than Tillerson did.

“When you look at the Iran [nuclear] deal, I think it’s terrible. I guess [Tillerson] thought it was okay,” Trump said. “I wanted to either break it or do something, and he felt a little bit differently, so we were not really thinking the same.”

The Trump administration says it will scrap the current deal unless new, more stringent restrictions were imposed on Iran by May 12.