Trump: Iran Has No Choice But to Negotiate for a New Agreement

The President of the United States says that after his country withdrew from the nuclear agreement, Iran is no longer the same country and has no choice but to negotiate for a real agreement with the U.S. Donald Trump, during a phone call on Thursday, September 6, with Jewish leaders and rabbis, defended the cancellation of the nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA, while referring to recent protests in various cities in Iran against the dire economic situation, stating that Iran is currently 'fighting for its survival.' Speaking with these individuals on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, he continued: 'Iran is no longer the same country. I believe they will contact us in the not-too-distant future and will try to reach an agreement. If we can reach a real agreement, we will do it. If they do not contact us, it is still not an issue. In the end, they will have no other option. Let's see what happens.' Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8 and announced that U.S. sanctions against Iran would be reinstated. The first round of sanctions, which included industrial and financial sectors, was implemented in mid-August, and the second round of sanctions, targeting Iran's oil exports, is set to take effect on November 4. The U.S. President has been strongly opposed to the JCPOA from the beginning and has repeatedly referred to it as a bad agreement. He reiterated this on Thursday, stating that this agreement made Iran 'more aggressive.' Trump noted during the phone call that he should have canceled the nuclear agreement earlier, but at that time, Rex Tillerson, the then U.S. Secretary of State, was opposed to the cancellation of the JCPOA. The U.S. President emphasized that this caused him to delay the cancellation of the JCPOA for a while, but he ultimately decided to annul the agreement. Donald Trump dismissed Rex Tillerson from his position in late March and stated that he 'did not agree with him on certain issues.' At that time, Trump identified one of the main points of disagreement with the former Secretary of State as the JCPOA, saying: 'When you look at the agreement with Iran, it seems very bad to me, but for him (Tillerson), there is no problem. I was looking to cancel the agreement or do something in this regard, but he thought a bit differently. Therefore, we did not have a common mindset.'