New leak claims Trump scrapped Iran nuclear deal ‘to spite Obama’
The latest disclosure comes despite a police warning to media about publishing leaked diplomatic memos.
Donald Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal to spite Barack Obama, according to a leaked memo written by the UK’s former ambassador in the US.
Sir Kim Darroch described the move as an act of “diplomatic vandalism”, according to the Mail on Sunday.
The paper says the memo was written after the then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appealed to the US in 2018 to stick with the nuclear deal.
The latest leak came despite the Met Police warning against publication.
The first memos criticising President Trump’s administration, which emerged a week ago, prompted a furious reaction from the US president and resulted in Sir Kim resigning from his role.
What have we learnt from the latest leak?
The Mail on Sunday reports that Sir Kim wrote to Mr Johnson informing him Republican President Trump appeared to be abandoning the nuclear deal for “personality reasons” – because the pact had been agreed by his Democrat predecessor, Barack Obama.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.
However, President Trump said he did not think that the deal went far enough in curtailing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and reinstated US sanctions after withdrawing from the deal in May 2018.
The British ambassador’s memo is said to have highlighted splits amongst US presidential advisors; he wrote that the White House did not have a “day-to-day” strategy of how to proceed following withdrawal from the deal.
Image copyrightAFP/PA MEDIAAccording to the paper, in his memo to Mr Johnson, Sir Kim wrote: “The outcome illustrated the paradox of this White House: you got exceptional access, seeing everyone short of the president; but on the substance, the administration is set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons – it was Obama’s deal.
“Moreover, they can’t articulate any ‘day-after’ strategy; and contacts with State Department this morning suggest no sort of plan for reaching out to partners and allies, whether in Europe or the region.”
Why did the police warn the media?
Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu warned media organisations against publishing leaked government documents, saying it “could be a criminal matter”.
His comments came as a criminal investigation was launched into the initial leak of Sir Kim’s emails.
The warning prompted a backlash from newspaper editors and MPs on Saturday, defending the freedom of the press.
The Met Police then released a second statement making clear journalists who released further details of the former ambassador’s communications could be in breach of the Official Secrets Act, in which case there is no public interest defence in law.