Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the nuclear agreement with Iran risks repeating mistakes of past USA policy toward North Korea, underscoring a tough Trump administration line against both countries.
Despite Tillerson's confirmation that Tehran is complying with the the deal, he said the current regime could sow disorder both in the region and worldwide.
Tillerson also likened Iran's behavior to that of North Korea.
Tillerson said Mr. Trump's administration has, "no intention of passing the buck to a future administration".
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has accused Iran of "alarming ongoing provocations" aimed at destabilising the Middle East and undermining America's interests in the region.
Tillerson wrote that Trump has directed an inter-agency review of the Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to "evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran ... is vital to the national security interests of the United States".
"Any discussion of Iran is incomplete without mentioning the JCPOA".
"A comprehensive Iran policy requires we address all of the threats posed by Iran and it is clear there are many", Tillerson told reporters at the State Department.
"It is their habit to unsettle people and nations", Tillerson said.
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On the one hand, Trump wants to show he's being tougher than Obama toward Iran, but on the other hand, he's not yet ready to rip up the deal.
"It would more isolate the United States than it would isolate Iran", he said, noting that other world powers are party to the deal. If Iran is engaged in covert nuclear weapons work, this is where it is taking place.
But he also signaled that the USA would not immediately tear up the deal as Donald Trump repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail. Among the anti-deal crowd Trump wooed in his presidential bid, the administration's decision is fueling concerns that Trump may let the 2015 accord stand.
Candidate Trump made criticism of the pact a centerpiece of his campaign, telling the American Israel Political Action Committee in March 2016 that "my number-one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran".
Now, Trump is trying to pick a fight with Iran even after admitting the Obama-era agreement is preventing the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The agreement was effectively dead before Trump took office after Congress refused to ratify it.
Iran has yet to comment on the Trump administration's review, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned in November that Tehran would retaliate if the USA breached the agreement.
At the time, officials stressed that a violation of the UN Security Council resolution on Iranian ballistic missile activity would not impact the Iran nuclear deal.
"Iran's nuclear ambitions are a grave risk to worldwide peace and security", he said.
On the climate agreement, the White House postponed a meeting Tuesday where top aides were to have hashed out differences on what to do about the non-binding global deal forged in Paris in December 2015.
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