Need to hold Iran accountable for 'support to terrorism': Nikki Haley
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley today said Iran needs to be held accountable for its "support to terrorism" and violations of the Iran nuclear deal as she defended the new Iranian policy of President Donald Trump who has threatened to terminate the landmark agreement.
In a hard-hitting speech from the White House on Friday, Trump condemned Iran as a "fanatical regime" and said it has "committed multiple violations" of the nuclear deal which among other things allows Tehran to continue and advance its nuclear weapons programme.
Trump announced that he would not continue to certify the agreement to Congress, but stopped short of immediately cancelling US participation in the deal and left its fate in the hands of Congress.
Haley, America's Permanent Representative to the UN, told ABC News that this new policy sends a perfect message to North Korea that if it enters a deal with the US, it should adhere to it and that the US will not tolerate its violation.
The Indian-origin top US diplomat acknowledged that Iran is in compliance with the part of the nuclear deal.
"But what we're saying is, is America still safe? Are we still OK with them doing all these other bad things? And what you're seeing is, everybody is turning a blind eye to Iran and all of those violations, out of trying to protect this agreement.
"What we need to say is, we have to hold them accountable. They can't be continuing to support terrorism around the world, like we're seeing they do. They can't continue to test ballistic missiles, which will lead to a nuclear Iran. They can't continue to do arms smuggling in the way that they're doing," Haley said.
"We're not saying they're in breach of the agreement. What we're saying is that, of sites inspected, no, they're doing exactly what they claim to do. But all sites have not been inspected," she claimed.
In his policy announcement, Trump said that he would not certify the Iranian nuclear deal.
Haley said that decertifying implies that there are many things in the UN resolution that are not happening.
"Those are total violations. They're violating every single one of them. So, US law is not just part of the agreement. US law talks about everything else. And it's good that it does," she said.
Haley said now the US Congress is going to be fully engaged on the threats of Iran.
"These are all lessons learned from North Korea, every single one of them. Had this been done with North Korea over the last 25 years, we would not be in this situation. What you see is, the president is trying to make sure that Iran doesn't become the next North Korea," she said.
The new Iranian policy, she said, sends the perfect message to North Korea, which is, the Trump administration is not going to engage in a bad deal.
"Should we ever get into a deal, we're going to hold you accountable. We're not going to look the other way, just because we think we have made a deal and we're not going to continue to watch it. We have to watch it," she added. LKJ CPS
