UNITED States President Donald Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal to spite predecessor Barack Obama, according to a new leaked memo.
The memo, written by the UK’s former ambassador in the US Sir Kim Darroch, described the decision to leave the deal as a form of “diplomatic vandalism”, according to the Mail on Sunday.
The newspaper published the information despite warnings from the Met Police not to do so.
The memo is the second from Sir Kim Darroch to be leaked in recent weeks, with the first criticising Trump’s administration as “clumsy and inept”.
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The initial leak prompted a furious reaction from Trump, in which the president went on a Twitter tirade branding the ambassador a “very stupid guy”, and resulted in Darroch’s resignation.
According to the Mail on Sunday, in his memo to Boris Johnson – who was foreign secretary at the time – Darroch 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.”
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will today launch a fresh diplomatic bid to prevent the Iran nuclear deal unravelling and to ease tensions in the Gulf.
The Tory leadership contender will travel to Brussels for a meeting of EU foreign ministers to seek support from the European signatories to the agreement – France and Germany.
READ MORE: Poll reveals that only 11% of Scots trust Johnson as next PM
Hunt has also indicated Britain’s next ambassador to the United States should be a career diplomat from within the ranks of the Foreign Office.
Meanwhile, a Foreign Office spokesman called yesterday’s leak “totally unacceptable” and called for the source to “face the consequences of their actions”.
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was backed by the US and five other nations, saw the country agree to limit its sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of a number of economic sanctions.
Last May, Trump withdrew from the deal, claiming it did not go far enough to prevent Iran’s nuclear activity. On Saturday, the Met Police warned further publication of Darroch’s memos could be in breach of the Official Secrets Act, and urged news outlets not to reveal them. Scotland Yard’s assistant commissioner Neil Basu told organisations that publication of leaked government documents could be a “criminal act”.
But a spokesperson for the Mail on Sunday defended the decision, saying: “What could be more in the public interest than a better understanding of how this position was reached, which may have serious consequences for world peace?”
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