Tillerson, whom Trump fired in a tweet in March 2018 amid friction between the two over North Korea, Iran and Russia policies, has largely refrained from discussing politics publicly since leaving Washington.

Speaking in Houston at a fundraiser for the UCross Foundation, an artists and writers residency program, Tillerson urged a “civil and thoughtful discourse,” saying that the current political rancor is widely viewed as equal to that during the Civil War.

“Perhaps the arts can help the American people reconnect with their country and remember how precious this Republic is,” he said to an audience of about 250 people. Tillerson received the Wyoming-based organization’s inaugural Award for Visionary Leadership.

The former diplomat later declined to comment on the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry under way in the US House of Representatives. The inquiry focuses on Trump’s attempt to get the government of Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

“I’m concerned for our country. Both sides have got to get their act together,” Tillerson said in a brief interview, Reuters reported.

Since leaving the Trump administration, Tillerson, also the former chairman of Exxon Mobil Corp, has described the US President as an undisciplined leader who did not like to read. Trump has criticized Tillerson as “lazy as hell” and “dumb as a rock.”

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“We have concerns about whether that agreement’s going to deliver on its objective but for the time being, we’re in agreement,” Tillerson told dozens of U.S. diplomats, New York Daily News reported.

He made the remarks during a town hall-style meeting with career diplomats at the State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Monday morning.

The nuclear deal was signed between Iran, the European Union, Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia – in July 2015. The agreement went into effect in January 2016.

Back in October, Trump declined to certify Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA, which he has described as “the dumbest and most dangerous” deal made in the “history of our country”.

That gave Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the JCPOA.

The U.S. president also asked Congress to decide about the fate of the agreement, vowing to terminate the deal if Congress did not impose new sanctions on Iran.

Congressional and White House aides said on Tuesday that the Congress will allow the deadline on reimposing sanctions on Iran to pass, leaving the JCPOA intact, Reuters reported.

Despite Trump’s anti-Iran rhetoric, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog – has issued nine regular reports each time confirming Iran’s adherence to the international deal.

Iranian officials have time and again highlighted Tehran’s compliance with the JCPOA, and threatened to take retaliatory actions if the other side abandons the deal.

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