British ambassador: Officials working to address Trump’s concerns with Iran deal

The British ambassador to the United States said Sunday that foreign leaders are working through potential solutions to keep President Trump from withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal at the end of the week.

Kim Darroch said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that officials from France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been talking for several weeks about how to address Trump’s concerns with the Obama-era multinational agreement.

The president, who has spoken out against the accord, has taken issue with its sunset clauses on Iran’s nuclear program and its lack of oversight on ballistic missiles.

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“We have ideas we think that we can find some language, produce some action that meets the president’s concerns,” Darroch said.

“We have been talking at senior official level to the administration with our French and German colleagues for several weeks now,” he continued. “We think we’re making progress. We haven’t got there yet. We have a few days left to see if we can find a way through.”

The 2015 deal between Iran and the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union provided Tehran billions in sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear program.

Trump has set a May 12 deadline for European allies to agree to address the flaws he sees in the deal.

Trump has been a staunch critic of the pact, which he has dubbed the “worst ever.”

Despite that, Darroch said Sunday that he’s optimistic Trump has not made a final decision to leave the accord, and that can be persuaded to stay.

“The message we are hearing from all contacts in this administration is that although the president’s views on the deal are very clear, and have been out there for months and months — actually for years — that a final decision hasn’t yet been taken,” Darroch said.