Donald Trump leaves his Merry Christmas Rally at the Kellogg Arena on December 18, 2019 in Battle Creek, Michigan. While Trump spoke at the rally the House of Representatives voted, mostly along party lines, to impeach the president for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, making him just the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Editorial use only. HANDOUT /NO SALES
Mandatory Credit: Photo by IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER'S OFFICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (10517120a)
(FILE) - A handout photo made available by the Iranian Supreme Leader's office shows Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Lieutenant general and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani (C) during a meeting with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (not pictured) in Tehran, Iran, 18 September 2018 (reissued 03 January 2020). Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed on 03 January 2020 following a US airstrike at Baghdad's international airport. The attack comes amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani killed in US airstrike on Baghdad, Tehran, Iran Islamic Republic Of - 18 Sep 2018
London: Germany’s defence minister on Thursday confirmed a report that the United States was threatening to impose a 25 per cent tariff on European car exports if it continued backing the Iran nuclear deal.
“This expression or threat, as you will, does exist,” Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told a news conference during a visit to London after a report in the Washington Post newspaper.
The US daily said that Trump made the threat if Britain, France and Germany did not formally accuse Tehran of flouting the 2015 nuclear deal.
China, the United States and Russia were also signatories to the agreement but Trump in 2018 unilaterally pulled the United States out and reimposed tough sanctions on Tehran.
Tehran responded by restarting aspects of its nuclear programme that the deal had sought to limit.
London, Paris and Berlin on Tuesday announced they had triggered a dispute mechanism under the agreement in an effort to force Tehran to abide once more by its terms.
But Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the trio on Twitter of having “sold out remnants of #JCPOA (the nuclear deal) to avoid new Trump tariffs”.
