Story highlights Iran has been complying with the deal, the IAEA says

Trump has chafed at sticking with the international pact

Washington (CNN) US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley laid out a case for President Donald Trump to step back from the Iran nuclear deal Tuesday, arguing that Iran's technical compliance alone isn't enough for the US to stick with the pact.

In a carefully read 20-minute address at the American Enterprise Institute, Haley argued that the nuclear deal can't be considered in isolation.

Instead, Iran's history, its hostility toward the US and its behavior in the Middle East have to figure into Trump's calculus when he decides in October whether to certify if Iran is abiding by the deal, she said. And, Haley argued, both UN resolutions and US law should be considered as well.

"What I am saying is should he decide to decertify, he has grounds to stand on," Haley said. "It's very easy to just talk about compliance and the JCPOA," she said, referring to the deal's formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. "But there's so much more to the story that we need to be looking at," she added.

The deal, reached in July 2015 and implemented in January 2016, essentially eased nuclear related sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, some of which expire after a few years. Congress passed a separate law requiring the president to certify every 90 days that Iran is in fact complying with the deal, something Trump has done twice now.

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