UK government works hard with US Congress to preserve valuable Iran deal: Boris Johnson

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (Photo by AFP)

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says the UK government will work hard with the US Cngress to persuade them preserve the Iran nuclear deal after President Donald Trump announced he decided not to certify the landmark agreement which was negotiated by the administration of former president Barack Obama.

Johnson defended the deal as a valuable agreement after Trump refused on Friday to formally certify that Tehran was complying with the deal two years after it was signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.

Trump, who did not scarp the agreement in its entirety — as he had pledged since the beginning of his presidential campaign— has now threatened to walk away if the Congress makes no improvements on it during the next 60 days.

He has tasked the Republican Congress with legislating new “trigger points” that if crossed by Tehran, Washington would be allowed to immediately re-impose economic sanctions that were lifted under the nuclear agreement.

Johnson said, “There is now a possibility that in Congress the deal could be unpicked but I think, I must say, that is going to be unlikely because we will work very hard to persuade our friends and partners in the US Congress that we think the deal has value and there are many and there are many people in Congress who want to fix it, not nix it."

He said the Iran deal “is something that took a long time to negotiate. This country, the UK, was a major part of that process over thirteen years.”

“It is a good thing for Iran and for the world. As of tonight, the important thing is that Iran nuclear deal is still going, the Americans are still part of it, the sanctions relief continues to be rolled over and it lives to fight another day and that's the important thing,” Johnson added.

Trump’s decision not to certify the deal, was harshly criticized by the world leaders, who believed it reflected the growing isolation of the United States.