Boris Johnson turns to Donald Trump’s 'favourite TV show' in race to save Iran nuclear deal
2 min read
Boris Johnson will today appear on a TV news show viewed regularly by Donald Trump in a bid to convince the US President not to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal.
Mr Trump has been sharply critical of the Obama-era accord, which is intended to see Iran cut its stockpile of uranium in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions.
The US President has until 12 May to decide whether to waive or re-impose sanctions that were lifted under the plan.
Mr Johnson – who is in Washington to meet US Vice-President Mike Pence as well as Mr Trump’s hawkish new National Security Adviser John Bolton – will appear on the Fox & Friends programme in a bid to convince the President to change tack.
Writing in the New York Times, the Foreign Secretary urged the President not to abandon the deal, which he said offered the “fewest disadvantages” of any bid to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
He said: “What has been gained from the nuclear deal? Imagine all the mutually contaminating civil wars and internecine conflicts that rage across the Middle East today.
“Then turn the dial and add the possibility of a regional nuclear arms race triggered by Iran dashing for a bomb. That is the scenario which the agreement has helped to prevent.”
Mr Johnson added: “At this delicate juncture, it would be a mistake to walk away from the nuclear agreement and remove the restraints that it places on Iran.”
The US President has previously blasted the the agreement as “one of the most incompetently drawn deals” he has ever seen, but the UK’s ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, insisted on Sunday that “a final decision hasn’t been taken” on whether to shelve it.
The Observer reported over the weekend that Mr Trump had hired a private team of Israeli spies to try and find information that would damage US officials who signed the 2015 deal.
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