British ambassador alleged Trump abandoned Iran deal to spite Obama in act of ‘diplomatic vandalism’

A British ambassador has alleged that Trump’s decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal was “an act of diplomatic vandalism” and done to spite one of the deal’s architects, former president Barack Obama, leaked cables say.

Sir Kim Darroch, the former British ambassador to the United States said Trump seemed to have gotten rid of the nuclear deal for “personal reasons,” the Mail on Sunday reports, citing leaked memos.

The ambassador’s comments are reported to have been said in May 2018 after Boris Johnson, who was foreign secretary at the time, made a failed trip to the White House to change Trump’s mind on his decision to leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

This comes after the Sunday Times said police identified a suspect behind the leak.

Earlier, Johnson and Jeremy Hunt criticised Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu for warning journalists they could be prosecuted for publishing memos.

Basu said leaked emails could be a “criminal matter” that was not in the public interest (a defence used by journalists to publish potentially sensitive content).

He added that a police investigation had been launched into a potential breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Hunt said he would

Defend to the hilt the right of the press to publish those leaks if they receive them and judge them to be in the public interest.

And Johnson said prosecution “would amount to an infringement on press freedom and have a chilling effect on public debate”.

People discussed this new development online

Others called him "dangerously petty"

Trump has a bit of a history with pettiness. After making racist statements about Latinos, he sued Univision for dropping the Miss Universe pageant (which he owned) from their network and then banned their employees from using his golf course.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly spent seven minutes telling Trump to “ stop being petty” back in 2015 when the then-presidential hopeful mocked rival Carly Fiorina’s face.

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