House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Iran nuclear deal is likely to stay in place and expressed his support for new sanctions on Tehran in an exclusive interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press.”
“A lot of that toothpaste is already out of the tube,” Ryan said when asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd if the U.S. could back out of the nuclear agreement.
“I don't think you're going to go back and reconstitute the multilateral sanctions that were in place,” he added in the interview that will air Sunday.
President Donald Trump has been critical of the Iran deal, suggesting during the campaign that he would tear up the agreement negotiated by President Barack Obama’s administration. The Trump administration on Friday announced new sanctions on Iran following the test-firing of a medium-range ballistic missile.
“I think we also need to ratchet up sanctions. I think what this administration is doing, which I agree with, is saying, ‘We have a new administration, and we're going to hold you, Iran, to account,’” Ryan said. “This last administration did not do that.”
Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn announced this week Iran was “on notice.”
