Aug 16, 2017 - Politics & Policy

Iran's president threatens to scrap nuclear deal

Vahid Salemi / AP

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says fraught tensions with the U.S. over sanctions related to Iran's ballistic missile program might lead him to quickly restart the country's nuclear program and tear up its 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers, per the WSJ.

Rouhani's quote to his Parliament: "Iran will certainly return to conditions much more advanced than before the negotiations started in a short period, not on a weekly or monthly scale, but on a daily and hourly scale."

Why it matters: It's another potential nuclear threat for President Trump to address — and he hasn't exactly shown restraint when faced with strong rhetoric from North Korea. This one is also a serious threat to Western businesses, who poured billions in investment into Iran's economy after the nuclear deal.

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