U.N. envoy Haley makes case for U.S. to potentially pull away from Iran nuclear deal

"U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley made a case Tuesday for how the United States could back away from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and suggested that President Trump may toss the issue to Congress.

Haley did not directly champion a U.S. withdrawal, but she asserted that the nuclear restriction deal is a threat to U.S. national security because its structure leaves loopholes and discourages tough enforcement...

In an address to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Haley left little doubt that she would support a presidential finding next month that Iran is not complying with the deal. That would be a first step toward a U.S. withdrawal and would trigger a 60-day congressional review that Haley said would be beneficial.

'Congress could debate whether the nuclear deal is in fact too big to fail,' Haley said.

'We should welcome a debate over whether the JCPOA is in U.S. national security interests,' she said, using the abbreviation for the deal's formal title, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Haley criticized specifics of the deal and said Iran is trying to duck scrutiny by insisting that the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, cannot inspect military sites at will...

'Just last month, when the United States imposed new sanctions in response to Iranian missile launches, Iran's leaders threatened once again to leave the JCPOA,' she said. 'This arrogant threat tells us one thing - Iran's leaders want to use the nuclear deal to hold the world hostage to its bad behavior.'..."