WASHINGTON, Feb 5: United States can help improve Iran’s economy in a short period of time, but Tehran is too proud to ask for help, US President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union Address to Congress.
“Because of our powerful sanctions, the Iranian economy is doing very, very poorly,” Trump said on Tuesday night. “We can help them make a very good and short time recovery. It can all go very quickly, but perhaps they are too proud or too foolish to ask for that help.”
Trump reiterated his call on Tehran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The United States continues to impose numerous sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal. On Thursday, the United States expanded its sanctions against Iran to include the country’s Atomic Energy Organization and its head Ali Akbar Salehi.
The JCPOA requires Iranian authorities to scale back the country’s nuclear development and allow inspectors to monitor its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.
In May 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and re-imposed comprehensive economic sanctions on Iran as part of the so-called “maximum pressure” policy.
On January 5, Iran announced that it would begin abandoning the remaining part of commitments under the JCPOA, specifically the requirement specifying acceptable levels of uranium enrichment. However, Tehran also said it would continue to cooperate with the IAEA and resume the implementation of nuclear commitments once the United States lifts the economic sanctions.
(UNI)
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