Nikki Haley Warns Iran Cannot Be Allowed To ‘Hold the World Hostage’ With Nuclear Deal

UNITED NATIONS — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley urged the international community Tuesday not to let Iran “use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage” after Iran threatened to break the controversial Obama-era agreement.

Iran responded angrily this week in the wake of fresh U.S. sanctions against the Islamic regime, threatening to quit the 2015 deal if they were implemented. Those sanctions were in response to Iran’s support for terrorism, human rights violations and missile launches — actions that the U.S. said were in violation of Security Council resolutions.

“Those who try to return to the language of threats and sanctions are prisoners of their past delusions,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised address.

“If they want to go back to that experience, definitely in a short time — not weeks or months, but in the scale of hours and days — we will return to our previous situation very much more stronger,” he warned.

Haley responded hours later by urging the international community to hold Iran responsible for its violations.

“Iran cannot be allowed to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage. Iran, under no circumstances, can ever be allowed to have nuclear weapons,” she said in a statement.

“At the same time, however, we must also continue to hold Iran responsible for its missile launches, support for terrorism, disregard for human rights and violations of UN Security Council resolutions. The nuclear deal must not become ‘too big to fail,’” she added.

Haley is set to travel to Vienna next week to visit the headquarters of the UN nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA is tasked with monitoring and verifying that Iran is in compliance with the deal, and concerns have been raised that inspectors are being denied access to certain military sites.

The Trump administration ruled Tehran was in compliance with the deal in July, but President Trump has since indicated that he does not believe the Islamic regime is in compliance. It is unlikely he will certify Iran’s compliance in two months’ time when it is next up for review.

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY