Russia's Putin, Germany's Merkel discuss Iran nuclear deal: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the Iran nuclear deal after Washington announced its withdrawal from it, the Kremlin said on Friday.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the 2015 deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for measures restricting its nuclear programme, did not go far enough in removing the threat posed by Iran to the United States and its allies in the Middle East.

Earlier, Trump said that he is pulling out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, European officials said, in a move that would raise the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upset America's European allies and disrupt global oil supplies. 

The 2015 deal, the signature foreign policy achievement of Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program to prevent it from being able to make an atomic bomb. Trump in his press conference blasted the Iran deal, called it 'disastrous' and 'embarrassment'. Announcing that US is pulling away from the Iran deal, Trump said US will be much safer without it. Trump said highest level of economic sanctions would be imposed against Iran and any nation helping them to get nuclear weapons would also face sanctions. 

Speaking out against the deal, Trump said, " At the point when the US had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regime — and it's a regime of great terror — many billions of dollars, some of it in actually cash, a great embarrassment to me as a citizen". He blamed the Obama administration for getting a weak deal. 

"If I allowed this deal to stand, there would soon be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Everyone would want their weapons ready by the time Iran had theirs", said Donald Trump. 

The Iran deal may remain partially intact, even without the United States. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested on Monday that Iran could remain in the accord with the other signatories that remain committed to it.

"Iran is monitoring U.S. and European stance closely and will react to U.S. decision based on its own national interests," Iran's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency IRNA.Trump's move is a snub to European allies such as France, Britain and Germany, who are also part of the Iran deal and tried hard to convince him to preserve it. The Europeans must now scramble to decide their own course of action with Tehran. China and Russia are also signatories to the Iran pact. European Union in a brief statement has said that they are committed to the Iran deal.