US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal out of "diplomatic vandalism", out of spite for his predecessor Barack Obama, former British ambassador to Washington Kim Derock wrote in a newly discovered shocking memo to Downing Street, Mail on Sunday reports.
This comes from a new leaked diplomatic cable from the former British ambassador to the US, published today.
"The administration is relying on an act of diplomatic vandalism apparently for ideological and personality reasons . . . it's about the Obama deal," Ambassador Kim Derock wrote in a diplomatic cable in May 2018, reports the British daily Mail on Sunday.
The document is part of the second batch of leaked confidential reports published today in the British daily.
The first telegrams critical of the Trump administration, which appeared in the media a week ago, caused an angry reaction from the American president and the resignation of the British ambassador, Derek.
The British newspaper published the latest leaked documents despite warnings from the British police that the media should not do so.
In May 2018, Boris Johnson, the British foreign secretary at the time, went to Washington to try to convince the US president not to pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015 with world powers.
In a cable sent afterward, Ambassador Kim Deroch revealed divisions within Trump's team over the decision, and criticized the White House's lack of a long-term strategy.
"They cannot formulate any strategy for the day after and contacts with the State Department this morning do not indicate any plan to reach out to partners and allies, either in Europe or in the region," the ambassador wrote.
He also reported that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo "subtly distanced himself and talked about the 'President's decision'" during the conversation with Boris Johnson.
According to the former British ambassador, Mike Pompeo hinted that he unsuccessfully tried to 'sell' the revised text of the agreement to Donald Trump, writes the Mail on Sunday.
The nuclear agreement was reached in 2015 between Iran and six world powers - the US, China, Russia, Great Britain, France and Germany and allowed for the lifting of part of the sanctions on Tehran in exchange for Iran's commitment not to develop nuclear weapons.
On May 8, 2018, Trump announced that the US was withdrawing from the agreement.
The previously leaked cables, last Sunday, in which Trump was not portrayed in a very favorable light, caused a storm between Great Britain and its close ally the United States.
Ambassador Derok submitted his resignation on Wednesday, judging that it is impossible for him to do that job anymore.
The British government has ordered an investigation into the source of the leak of classified documents and police have opened an investigation into a possible breach of the Official Secrets Act.
In those investigations, the source of the leak was identified, the Sunday Times writes today.
According to that newspaper, the suspect is a British official who had access to the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
British police were yesterday accused of threatening press freedom after issuing a warning to the media not to publish classified documents.
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