Former President Barack Obama criticised his successor Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and called the move a “serious mistake”.

“I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake,” Obama said in a statement soon after Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the agreement.

The former President said the decision to pull out of the deal, signed with Iran, Russia, China, France, UK and Germany, was “misguided” and that it “turns our back on America’s closest allies.”

“Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated. In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one Administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers,” Obama said in the statement.

Read the full statement here.

Countering Trump’s criticisms of the JCPOA, Obama said the agreement “is working,” since it has “significantly rolled back” Iran’s nuclear programme.

The JCPOA strictly limits Iran’s capabilities to produce nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

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According to US intelligence agencies, Obama added, Iran was meeting “its responsibilities under the deal”, and that pulling the US out of the agreement could undermine it and “trigger an arms race”.

“The reality is clear. The JCPOA is working – that is a view shared by our European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S. Secretary of Defense. The JCPOA is in America’s interest – it has significantly rolled back Iran’s nuclear program. And the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can accomplish – its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the United States should be working to put in place with North Korea. Indeed, at a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes – with Iran – the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans,” Obama said in his statement.

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Earlier, Trump announced that he was not only pulling out of the nuclear deal, but also reinstating sanctions. He said there was “definite proof” that Tehran had lied about only wanting a peaceful nuclear energy programme.

US has given foreign companies working in and with Iran to wind down their contracts over 90-day and 180-day periods, and said they would have to bear consequences if they failed to comply.

The US Treasury Department said the sanctions would be reinstated after these foreign companies wind down their contracts with Iran.

(With agencies)