Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley on Sunday insisted that the United States will remain in the Iran nuclear deal.
President Donald Trump on Friday said he would likely pull the U.S. out of the deal unless Congress and the other nations in the seven-country accord made a handful of adjustments he demanded.
“Let’s see if we cannot address the flaws in the agreement by staying within the agreement, working with the other signatories, working with our European friends and allies within the agreement,” Tillerson said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He said “that may come in a secondary agreement as well.”
“So we want to take the agreement as it exists today, as I said, fully enforce that agreement, be very demanding of Iran’s compliance under the agreement, and then begin the process of addressing these flaws that we see,” Tillerson said.
“Before the Senate not long ago, your counterpart at the Pentagon, Secretary Mattis, was asked if he thought staying in the agreement was in the best interests of the United States,” Jake Tapper said, referring to Secretary of Defense James Mattis. “It sounds like you agree with that as well.”
“I do agree with that,” Tillerson said. “And I think the President does as well.”
Tillerson: “We want to take the agreement as it exists today…and then begin the process of addressing these flaws” https://t.co/GxottySQVX
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 15, 2017
“I think what you’re going to see is the President’s going to work very closely with Congress to try and come up with something that is more proportionate,” Haley said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“I think right now, you’re going to see us stay in the deal. Because what we hope is that we can improve the situation,” she said. “We’re in the deal to see how we can make it better. And that’s the goal. It’s not that we’re getting out of the deal.”
