UK paper: Envoy says Trump quit Iran deal to spite Obama
British ambassador at center of diplomatic row over leaked memos slamming 'inept' U.S. administration also said White House was 'set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism' regards the nuclear agreement due to its broker
LONDON -- The British ambassador to the U.S. who quit over leaked memos criticizing Donald Trump and his administration claimed that the president pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to spite his predecessor Barack Obama.
The Mail on Sunday published more leaked memos from Sir Kim Darroch, despite a police warning that doing so might be a crime.
The paper said Darroch had written to the British government in May 2018 that Trump had decided to unilaterally withdraw from Iran's nuclear deal with major powers for "personality reasons," because it had been agreed by his predecessor Barack Obama.
Darroch had said in the cable that the Trump administration was "set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism," the paper said.
The career diplomat resigned last week after the newspaper published cables in which he'd branded the Trump administration "dysfunctional" and "inept."
The White House responded by refusing to deal with him and even uninvited Darroch from diplomatic events.
Britain's most senior counter-terrorism police officer had warned the media not to print any more leaked documents, saying it could breach the Official Secrets Act.
However, he was widely criticised by editors and politicians including the foreign minister Jeremy Hunt and ex-London Mayor Boris Johnson, the two men battling to replace Theresa May as prime minister when she steps down in just over a week's time.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported that the suspect behind the leak of confidential memos has been identified.
British officials launched an inquiry to find the person responsible for the leak and counter-terrorism police said on Friday they had launched a criminal investigation.
According to the Sunday Times, which cited unnamed government sources, a suspect had been identified and suggestions that it could be the result of a computer hack by a foreign state had been ruled out.
"They think they know who did the leaking," an unnamed government source told the paper. "It's now a case of building a case that will stand up in court. It was someone with access to historical files. They went in and grabbed a range of material. It was quite crude."
Both the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday reported that intelligence officials from the GCHQ spy agency were about to join the investigation to find the suspect by scouring email and phone records.
