Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
Lucas Jackson | Reuters
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced Wednesday his country would end its compliance with two particular conditions of the Iranian nuclear deal.
It comes exactly one year after President Donald Trump announced America's withdrawal from the deal that has since been on life support as European, Russian and Chinese signatories endeavor to save it.
Rouhani, rather than signal the end of deal entirely, gave Europe an ultimatum: It will have 60 days to either follow the Trump administration or resume oil trade with Iran, which is sanctioned by the U.S.
The deal saw financial sanctions on Iran lifted in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program. Since Washington's withdrawal last year and subsequent re-imposition of sanctions on numerous sectors of Iran's economy, most significantly its oil exports, the Islamic Republic's economy has fallen into deep recession. Its currency has tanked, scores of international companies have left the country and Iranians are struggling to afford basic goods.
For the Trump administration, the deal did not go far enough to address what it calls Iran's malign behavior, including its support of proxy militant groups around the region, ballistic missile testing, and human rights abuses.
"The path we have chosen today is not the path of war, it is the path of diplomacy," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "But diplomacy with a new language and a new logic."
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