Haley says Iran move strengthens Trump’s hand on North Korea

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday said that US President Donald Trump is strengthening his ability to resolve the North Korea nuclear crisis by threatening to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran.

Haley was defending Trump’s decision not to certify Iran’s compliance with the deal. Trump’s critics argue he’s undermining US credibility and options for diplomacy because North Korea will determine the US doesn’t honor its commitments.

Speaking at the annual dinner of the conservative Heritage Foundation, Haley said that the argument is “just wrong.” She says it’s the opposite. Haley said failing to fix the 2015 deal with Iran would send the message that the United States “can be bought by a bad deal” that doesn’t actually eliminate the nuclear threat.

Earlier on Friday, Trump caused alarm across the Atlantic with a belligerent speech in which he stopped short of pulling out of the agreement but warned he could do so at any time, restating his belief that the deal was letting Iran off the hook.

He left it to the US Congress to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in return for Tehran abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

Trump’s comments came as the EU announced it was sending its chief diplomat to Washington next month to try to save the agreement that saw Tehran dramatically scale back its nuclear ambitions in return for an end to punishing sanctions.

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy head, said she would “be in Washington in early November” to urge US lawmakers not to pull out of the deal, known officially as the JCPOA, which was negotiated with Iran over 12 painstaking years by the US, Britain, France, China, Germany and Russia.

EU ministers have warned that ditching the deal when Iran has repeatedly been certified as keeping up its end of the bargain would send a signal to North Korea that negotiating with the international community is a waste of time.