Iran nuke deal drove Trump to run for president, son says

Controversial 2015 accord was a ‘game changer’ for real-estate mogul on journey to becoming presumptive Republican nominee

Tamar Pileggi is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Billings, Montana, May 26, 2016. (AP/Brennan Linsley, File)
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Billings, Montana, May 26, 2016. (AP/Brennan Linsley, File)

The controversial nuclear agreement reached between Iran and major world powers last year compelled real estate mogul and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to run in the 2016 presidential elections, his son said Sunday.

“I think, honestly, the Iran nuclear deal was one of the things that made him jump into the race,” Eric Trump said in an interview with the New York AM 970 radio station. “I think that was a game changer for him.”

“That is when he finally said, ‘Kids, I am going to it. I am going to give this a real shot,’” he added.

After years of negotiations, Iran and world powers, led by the United States, reached an agreement last year to freeze and inspect Iran’s rogue nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

Since launching his campaign last July, Trump has repeatedly criticized US President Barack Obama’s handling of the diplomatic talks that led to the multilateral agreement — it involved five other world powers in addition to the US and Iran — which eased crippling international economic sanctions levied against Iran in exchange for a curtailing of its nuclear program.

In this photo taken May 12, 2016, Eric Trump, son of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, responds to questions during an interview in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
In this photo taken May 12, 2016, Eric Trump, son of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, responds to questions during an interview in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

In his first-ever foreign policy speech in April, Trump accused Obama of capitulating to Tehran at the expense of Israel’s security for the sake of the “disastrous” nuclear accord.

He went on to claim the Jewish state was “snubbed and criticized by an administration without moral clarity” during Obama’s presidency, whereas Iran was treated with “tender love and care.”

In February, at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, Trump railed against the Iran deal at length before asserting Obama’s foreign policy made him “the worst thing that ever happened to Israel.”

At the Washington, DC conference, Trump vowed that his “number one priority” as president would be to dismantle “the disastrous deal with Iran,” winning him a standing ovation from the audience.

A May report by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency’s said Iran was in compliance with the terms outlined in the 2015 agreement.

The report was the second quarterly assessment since the accord came into force on January 16 that showed Iran was meeting its main commitments.

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