IRNA � US new sanctions against Iran are politically-motivated and other parties in the nuclear deal between Iran and the major world powers likely won't trust President Donald Trump, American news website writes.


Washington's approach towards the international nuclear deal 'mirrors a dark chapter in US history', the Business Insider wrote on Saturday.

'President Donald Trump campaigned on tearing up the Iran deal and repealing Obamacare, but with his efforts to reform healthcare once again defeated, he may look to sabotage the Iran deal,' the website said in an article.

'The US has a limited ability to act unilaterally,' it said referring to the multilateral landmark nuclear deal which involves six parties, including the UK, France, China, Russia, Germany and the EU.

'Trump has been looking for dirt to increase pressure on Tehran,' it added.

The article goes on to say that, 'Every 90 days, the US has to confirm that Iran has complied with the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspections and not violated the terms of the deal. For the first six months of Trump's presidency, he has gone through with the procedure, albeit begrudgingly.'

Trump had told the Wall Street Journal, 'If it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago.'

Jeffrey Lewis, the founding publisher of Arms Control Wonk and an expert on nuclear proliferation, on the other hand, told Business Insider that like the IAEA, Trump sees no evidence of Iran violating the terms of the deal.

Trump wants to call for inspections at Iranian military sites to impose a lose-lose dilemma on Iran, provide an excuse for the US to exit the deal, and create a power to rope the other parties into it.

'Demand more inspections and when Iran doesn't comply, blame Iran and use it as an excuse to walk away from the agreement,' tweeted Ilan Goldenberg, the Middle East security director at the Center for New American Security.

'If US can blame Iran then it can build coalition to reimpose sanctions and get a better deal,' Goldenberg said.

But, according to Lewis and Goldenberg, the problem is that none of the other nations involved in the deal believe Trump is acting in good faith; intelligence exclusive to the US that suggests Iran is cheating on the deal will likely appear politically motivated.

The selective search for intelligence on a Middle Eastern adversary's allegedly clandestine nuclear weapons program draws a dark historical parallel. In 2003, during the run up to the Iraq war, the US cherry-picked intelligence and represented Iraq as a state bent on building weapons of mass destruction. But after Baghdad fell and the US took control over Iraq, it found no weapons of mass destruction, whatsoever.

It�s exactly like Iraq, Lewis said.

'The facts were being fitted around the policy.' The major difference in this case is that 'the US is unlikely to invade Iran,' he said.