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Trump Threatens to Impose Tariffs on EU unless Nuke Deal Scrapped

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on the import of cars manufactured in Europe if continental powers continue to back the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal. A Washington Post report to this effect was confirmed by the defense minister of Germany, which along with Britain and France earlier this week triggered the accord’s dispute mechanism following a series of violations by Iran. In response, Tehran’s foreign minister said that London, Paris and Berlin had caved to US pressure and accused President Trump of acting like a “high school bully.” The US leader in May 2018 withdrew Washington from the agreement and re-imposed crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Iran recently announced that it would no longer abide by any of the restrictions placed on its uranium enrichment program, and President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday claimed his country was now producing more of the substance than before the nuclear pact was forged. The declaration came as Iran’s top diplomat held talks in India with his counterpart from the European Union, which thereafter released a statement reiterating Brussels’ commitment to salvaging the deal. Tensions between Washington and Tehran reached a crescendo this month with the targeted killing in a US drone strike of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, to which Iran responded by launching a coordinated ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing American soldiers.