[Jake Tapper, Cnn Anchor:] Deal rejected.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] One of the worst and most one-sided transactions.
[Tapper:] President Trump disavows the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated under President Obama.
[Trump:] In the event we're not able to reach a solution, the agreement will be terminated.
[Tapper:] Now U.S. allies are distancing themselves from the president's decision. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson joins me live next. And dismantling Obamacare. President Trump wipes out subsidies to insurance companies.
[Trump:] Taking crucial steps toward saving the American people from the nightmare of Obamacare.
[Tapper:] And pressures Democrats to get on board, or else.
[Trump:] They're like obstructionists. If they came over, maybe we could make a deal.
[Tapper:] But even some Republicans say it's the American people who will pay the price. Key Republican Senator Susan Collins is here to react. Hello. I'm Jake Tapper in Washington, where the state of our union is changing course. This week, President Trump moved to undue two cornerstone policies of the Obama legacy, Obamacare and the Iran deal, the president disavowing the nuclear deal, saying Iran is not in compliance with the terms of the agreement. But President Trump fell short of terminating the deal altogether, though the president did leave that option on the table.
[Trump:] In the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated.
[Tapper:] This morning, U.S. allies are speaking out against President Trump's decision. Just hours ago, Great Britain and Germany reiterated they are quote "firmly committed" to the agreement. This follows a strong rebuke from the European Union's foreign policy chief.
[Federica Mogherini, Foreign Policy Chief, European Union:] It is not a bilateral agreement. It does not belong to any single country. And it is not up to any single country to terminate it.
[Tapper:] Here to discuss this and much more is the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. Secretary Tillerson, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
[Rex Tillerson, U.s. Secretary Of State:] My pleasure, Jake.
[Tapper:] So, before we get to what the president did, I want to ask a question. You said recently that Iran is in technical compliance with the deal. But President Trump said on Friday that the Iranian regime has quote "committed multiple violations of the agreement." So, which is it? Is Iran in technical compliance, or has it committed multiple violations?
[Tillerson:] Well, the answer is really both, Jake. Under the nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, that is a multilateral party agreement, there have been a number of technical violations, carrying too much inventory of heavy water, having materials that are used to construct high-speed centrifuges. But, under the agreement and this is part of the weaknesses and the flaws Iran has a significant period of time to remedy those violations. And so they have remedied the violations, which then brings them back into technical compliance. I think, though, that demonstrated pattern of always walking right up against the edges of the agreement are what give us some concern as to how far Iran might be willing to go to test the limits from its side of the agreement. Our response to that has been to work with the other parties and demand that we be much more demanding of the enforcement of the agreement, much more demanding inspections, much more demanding disclosures. And that's what we are shifting since we have taken our seat at the table of the joint commission.
[Tapper:] OK. President Trump decertified the deal on Friday, but he did not withdraw from the deal, as he could have. Did the president want to withdraw unilaterally before people in the administration such as yourself, Secretary Mattis and others, successfully persuaded him to pursue what might be described as a middle course?
[Tillerson:] No, what the president wants is a more comprehensive strategy to deal with Iran in its totality. I think, for too long, and certainly the last administration really defined the Iranian relationship around this nuclear agreement. This nuclear agreement is flawed. It has a number of weaknesses in it. But and so the president said throughout his campaign even, he said, I will either reform the agreement, I will renegotiate the agreement, basically saying, I will either fix these flaws, or we will have to have a different agreement entirely. And I think his decision around the new policy is consistent with that. So, now we want to deal with the nuclear agreement's weaknesses, but we really need to deal with a much broader array of threats that Iran poses to the region, our friends and allies, and, therefore, threats that they pose to our own national security. The policy itself really has three components. And I think it's important that people understand this. And the president described these in his speech. There is the nuclear agreement, which we are going to undertake an effort to see if we cannot address the many flaws in the agreement, working with partners. It may be a secondary agreement. Maybe it's not within the existing agreement, but we may undertake a secondary agreement. But then there's a much broader array from threats from Iran, its ballistic programs, its support of terrorist organizations in the region, Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas. These are all very threatening organizations. And its destabilizing activities in Yemen to support the rebels, the Houthis, to support the rebels in Syria, the Assad regime. Everywhere you look in the region, Iran's activities destabilize the region and threaten others. But the third element of this policy and the president touched on it in his address is, this is not about the Iranian people. This is about the regime in Iran, this revolutionary regime that, ever since it came to power, has been intent on killing and harming Americans and harming others in the region. We do not hold the Iranian people accountable for that. So, our effort is to support the moderate voices in Iran, support their cries for democracy and freedom, in the hope that, one day, the Iranian people will retake control of the government of Iran and restore it to its rich history of the past, reintegrate, and become a fruitful member in trade, commerce in the region. So, that is really the endgame here. But that's a very long game, and we realize that.
[Tapper:] Before the Senate not long ago, your counterpart at the Pentagon, Secretary Mattis, was asked if he thought staying in the agreement was in the best interests of the United States, not a question about whether or not he wanted to improve upon the deal or add a secondary deal, as you just discussed, but whether or not the U.S. should stay in it or leave. And he said staying in it was his course. It sounds like you agree with that as well, that you would not want Congress to immediately impose sanctions that would end this deal.
[Tillerson:] No, I do agree with that. And I think the president does as well. That's why he took the decision he took that, look, let's let's see if we cannot address the flaws in the agreement by staying within the agreement, working with the other signatories, working with our European friends and allies within the agreement. But that as I said, that may come in a secondary agreement as well. So, we want to take the agreement as it exists today, as I said, fully enforce that agreement, be very demanding of Iran's compliance under the agreement, and then begin the process of addressing these flaws that we see around not the absence of addressing ballistic missiles, for instance, the concerns we have around the sunset provisions, this phase-out of the agreement. You know, we we know what that looks like. We have seen this in the past in the '90s with North Korea, agreements that ultimately phase out. What happened has put us on the road where we are today with North Korea. We don't want to find ourselves in that same position with Iran.
[Tapper:] Speaking of of North Korea, you talk about working with European allies. As you know, our European allies are very concerned about the step that President Trump took on Friday. I want to show you what the German foreign minister had to say quote "My big concern is that what is happening in Iran or with Iran from the U.S. perspective will not remain an Iranian issue, but many others in the world will consider whether they themselves should acquire nuclear weapons, too, given that such agreements are being destroyed." And I guess the question there is, as voiced by the German foreign minister, why should North Korea believe anything that the United States has to say if the president has shown his willingness to walk away from agreements about nuclear weapons?
[Tillerson:] I think what North Korea should take away from this decision is that the United States will expect a very demanding agreement with North Korea, one that is very binding and achieves the objectives, not just of the United States, but the policy objectives of China and other neighbors in the region, a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. We intend to be very demanding in that agreement. And if we achieve that, then there will be nothing to walk away from, because the objective will be achieved. The issue with the Iran agreement is, it does not achieve the objective. It simply postpones the achievement of that objective. And we feel that that is one of weaknesses under the agreement, so we're going to stay in. We're going to work with our European partners and allies to see if we can't address these concerns, which are concerns of all of us.
[Tapper:] All right. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, stay right here. We are going to take a very quick break. We have got a lot more to talk about, including your role in establishing a dialogue with North Korea, something the president said is a waste of time. Stay with us.