Trump’s U-turn may see Iran join North Korea as a nuclear state

Front cover of Iranian newspaper reporting Trump's decision

An unpopular decision in Iran

Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

US president Donald Trump has refused to recertify the 2015 multilateral agreement freezing Iran’s nuclear programme. The impact of the decision – which was opposed by all of the other member nations party to the deal, Trump’s own officials, nuclear experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – won’t be immediate. But it could be very bad – North Korea bad, if history is anything to go by.

The 2015 deal was heralded as a major success. At the time, Iran had the capability to make enough highly enriched uranium (HEU)

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