US President Donald Trump promised ‘severe consequences’ if Iran restarted its nuclear programme at a press conference from the White House on Wednesday, the day after the US pulled out of the nuclear deal designed to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons capability.
“I would advise Iran not to start their nuclear program, I would advise them very strongly, if they do they will be a very severe consequence,” Trump warned.
The US president also confirmed that sanctions would be reinstated against Iran in the hope to bring them back to the negotiating table.
Under the deal, known formally as the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Iran stopped producing 20 percent enriched uranium and handed over the majority of its stockpile in return for international sanctions being lifted.
On May 8, Trump announced that the US would pull out of the deal, put in place in 2015 between Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – and Germany.