Despite Trump’s officials assurance of a technical compliance to the deal and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis testimony, US President Donald Trump is expected to “decertify” the Iran nuclear agreement next week, informing Congress that the 2015 deal no longer serves U.S. national security interests, ABC News reports.

• Trump’s sentiments

The president argued that Iran is violating the “spirit” of the deal and therefore directed aides to seek tougher enforcement of its nuclear activities and possibly impose new sanctions for its destabilising behaviour in the region.

Speaking during a dinner with military leaders at the White House, Trump said, “The Iranian regime supports terrorism and exports violence, bloodshed and chaos across the middle east. That is why we must put an end to Iran’s continued aggression and nuclear ambitions. They have not lived up to the spirit of their agreement.”

If Trump, who has called the accord “the worst deal ever negotiated”, does not recertify it by October 16, Congress has 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions suspended under the accord.

• The direction of the new path

However, U.S. officials say Trump’s objective in decertifying the deal is to intensify the heat on Iran, with the threat of military force, restoring old sanctions and imposing new ones, thereby getting the regime to accept fixes to the deal.

The White House looks forward to attaching modifications to the deal which will see it extend or eliminate the current provision called the “sunset provisions”, impose penalties or limits for Iran’s ballistic missile program, and guarantee inspection of all potential nuclear sites, including military sites which Iran claims are not part of the agreement.

• Iran’s unwavering stand

Iranian officials have ruled out any renegotiation of the deal, which was negotiated jointly with the U.S., China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany and the EU.

Ruling out any changes to the deal which was jointly signed with the US, China, UK, Russia, France, Germany and the EU, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said during the just concluded UN general assembly, “Either the [nuclear agreement] will remain as-is, in its entirety, or it will no longer exist. There will be absolutely no changes, no alterations, nothing done to the current framework.”

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