The US Pulling Out Of Iran Nuclear Deal Could Lead To Arms Race In The Middle East

Boris Johnson has warned President Trump that pulling out of an international agreement with Iran could lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, triggered by the Iranians trying to build a bomb.

The Foreign Secretary is currently in the United States on a diplomatic mission to persuade Donald Trump not to pull out the Iran nuclear deal.

It was back in 2015, under Barack Obama's Presidency, Iran agreed to rein in its nuclear programme in a deal struck with the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany.

The reason behind doing this was due to Iran being hit with devastating economic sanctions by the United Nations, United States and the European Union that are estimated to have cost it tens of billions of pounds a year in lost oil export revenues. Billions in overseas assets had also been frozen.

President Trump has commented on the deal before and has threatened to pull out, calling it the "worst" deal the US has "ever" signed up to because of its

"disastrous flaws".

The government insists its priority is preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon and says it is working because the state has reduced its stock of enriched uranium by 95%.

It does admit the deal is not perfect as it fails to cover areas such as ballistic missiles and is time-limited but insists it is the option with the "fewest disadvantages".

Germany, France and the United Nations have all urged the US not to withdraw but Mr Trump could decide to walk away from the agreement by the end of the week.