A UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister has said US President Donald Trump’s approach to dealing with Iran, especially his recent comments, are making a “confrontation” more likely, adding that the UK will not succumb to pressure to withdraw from the Iran deal.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Wednesday, FCO Minister Alistair Burt questioned Trump’s approach, saying “We believe it's best to engage with them and seek to affect changes in behavior and that's what we do, but the president has his own way of putting it.”
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Elaborating, Burt continued, “I think language matters. I think if language is ramped up and is seen to be aggressive it's not necessarily certain that people respond in the way that you want.
Moreover, the FCO minister stressed that the “outside” world cannot solve all of the Middle East’s problems, stating that de-escalation should be their priority.
The accord formalized Tehran’s agreement to scale down its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the unfreezing of its foreign financial assets and the lifting of economic sanctions.
Other guarantors of the agreement are looking to salvage the deal, though this is looking increasingly difficult, as Tehran continues to voice its frustration at the US abruptly pulling out of the deal, which took months of talks to negotiate.
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