Tillerson on Wednesday sought to head off any criticism that the administration was being easy on Iran, describing a broad administration review of Iran policy that includes the nuclear deal and examines if sanctions relief serves US interests.
US President Donald Trump made contradictory promises during the campaign as to what his policy would be toward Iran, but a couple of times vowed to dismantle the accord, if elected.
Tillerson said the U.S. is conducting a comprehensive review of its Iran policy and added that the Obama-era nuclear deal only "delays" Tehran's goal of becoming a nuclear state.
Over the past several weeks, the unhinged commander-in-chief has authorized bombings in two countries without any follow-up plan; he's provoked North Korea and brought the US closer to a nuclear war; he's lost track of an American aircraft carrier.
President Donald Trump ordered the review to evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to the nuclear deal was "vital to the national security interests of the United States", Tillerson said, as reported in Reuters.
During his presidential campaign, Trump called the agreement "the worst deal ever negotiated" and said he would review it once he reached office.
The next test of Trump's attitude toward the nuclear deal will be in May when he must decide whether to extend sanctions waivers for Iran first signed by President Barack Obama.
The nuclear deal was sealed in Vienna in July 2015 after 18 months of negotiations led by former Secretary of State John Kerry and diplomats from the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Britain, China, France and Russian Federation - and Germany.
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Tillerson on April 19 appeared to be siding with the deal's strongest critics, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, which opposed the deal because it did not entirely shut down Iran's nuclear industry or address other alleged aggression by Iran in the region. He said in July 2015 that "Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons".
At the time, officials stressed that a violation of the UN Security Council resolution on Iranian ballistic missile activity would not impact the Iran nuclear deal.
Around $100 million worth of Iranian oil money and other assets were frozen prior to the agreement.
"An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea, and take the world along with it", he said, asserting that "the JCPOA fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran". After the deal was negotiated, he worked with Congress to maintain US sanctions targeting Iran's missile development and alleged human rights violations.
"Everywhere you look, if there's trouble in the region, you find Iran", Mattis told reporters.
But after Trump came to the White House in January, the Israel-US ties have witnessed a remarkable upswing, with Trump and Netanyahu jointly criticising Iran at a presser in February in the US. "Every administration, when it doesn't know what the hell to do, reviews things", Slavin said.
He specifically cited Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and for Houthi rebels in Yemen, as well as hostility to Israel, the harassment of US naval vessels plying the Persian Gulf and cyberattacks against the United States and its allies in the Gulf.
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