Former secretary of state John Kerry said on Friday that there is chance of conflict with Iran after the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

By pulling out of the accord, President Donald Trump has “made it more likely that there will be conflict in the region”, AFP reported him as saying at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Kerry led diplomatic efforts that resulted in the 2015 nuclear agreement. Recalling what he went through to open discussions with Iran, he said Ayatollah Khamenei was “dead set” against negotiations with the U.S. and talk were only achieved through enormous diplomatic efforts. 

Kerry says the JCPOA is “the single, strongest, (and) most far-reaching transparent agreement on face of the planet.”The former U.S. chief diplomat called the nuclear deal the most “transparent” agreement in the world. “This is the single, strongest, most far-reaching transparent agreement on face of the planet.”

Last month, Kerry berated Trump for having described the JCPOA as the "worst deal ever", saying the U.S. president tries to "make things up" on Iran.

Trump withdrew unilaterally from the nuclear deal in May which was endorsed by the UN Security Council resolution 2231. Since then, the remaining parties to the deal, including France, Germany, the UK, Russia, and China, are trying to convince Tehran to remain in the multilateral agreement.

Under the JCPOA, Iran is obliged to scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions.

Twelve reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency have verified Iran’s compliance. The five other major powers to the deal — Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia — have stuck by it. 

To circumvent renewed U.S. sanctions, the European Union announced plans during the UN General Assembly week to create a new financial entity to facilitate transactions with Iran, a move that could also challenge U.S. domination of the international financial system.

He also revealed that both Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah and Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak told him that the U.S. should attack Iran.

“When I met King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia he said ‘the only way to deal with Iran is bomb’. Also, when I met president Mubarak of Egypt he said ‘you have to bomb Iran’.”

According to Kerry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also urged President Barack Obama to give the go-ahead for bombing Iran's nuclear facilities.

NA/PA