RT--  Trump’s claims that Tehran benefits too much from sanctions relief provided by the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal are “just a smoke screen,” Jay stressed.

“His real objective in the region is to get the Iranians to walk away from the deal. He wants to say to America, to the Congress: ‘Look, I tried to talk to these people and they walked away from this deal,’”Jay added.

The collapse of the accord will “create a tension [in the Middle East] which wasn’t there in the past,” the journalist said. In his view, Trump is focusing on Iran “because he wants to walk away from the North Korean crisis with some dignity intact. He doesn’t want the journalists looking too carefully at what really happened there.”

It’s a “vicious circle,” he added, explaining that a US or Iranian pullout from the nuclear deal will allow Washington to put even greater sanctions pressure on Tehran. However, Jay warned that “one thing the Americans can’t afford to happen is for the Iranians to go back to developing their own nuclear arms.”

Trump 'wants to constantly' violate Iran deal 

Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, said he didn’t believe that Trump was really trying to get rid of the nuclear deal. 

“I think what he wants to do is constantly violate the agreement until the only thing that is left for the Iranians is to continue with their side of the bargain, whereas the Americans can sanction the whole of Iran,” he said.

However, the professor warned that such an approach by Washington was “simply not going to work.”