U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Iran is sticking to the terms of the historic agreement it made to curb its nuclear program. While Tillerson acknowledges that Iran is abiding by the terms of the deal, the Trump administration is still considering violating the deal by reapplying sanctions due to Iran's continued support for terrorism, according to a report by CNN.
USA officials familiar with the review told the Free Beacon that Iran's continued support for terrorism has become a sticking point for the Trump administration as it reviews the agreement and the previous administration's policy toward Iran.
The latest notification was the first issued by the Trump administration.
"Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods", Tillerson said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The deal stipulates that the State Department must notify Congress every 90 days regarding Iran's compliance.
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"Yesterday was the annual Army Day celebration-also known as Death to Israel day-and they paraded some pretty serious new hardware through the streets", the White House official disclosed.
Tuesday's determination suggested that while he agreed with findings by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran is keeping to its end of the bargain, he is looking for another way to ratchet up pressure on Tehran.
Votel said that, since the agreement was finalized, the USA military has seen a heightened number of "malign activities" on the part of Iran and its proxies in the Central Region, including "Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, the Sinai, and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait [located between Yemen and Djibouti and Eritrea] and in other parts of our area of responsibility".
Trump imposed sanctions on Iranian individuals and businesses after Iran tested ballistic missiles earlier this year, but so had his predecessor, President Barack Obama a year earlier after a similar missile test. Trump has not otherwise been focused on Iran, although he launched a barrage of missiles at Iran's ally, the Assad regime in Syria, after a chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held area.
Tillerson informed Congress this has not happened. "President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States", Tillerson wrote.
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