Delivering on another campaign promise, 71-year-old President Donald Trump withdrew from the July 15, 2915 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPA] AKA the Iranian Nuke Deal. Negotiated over two years by former Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the deal suspended Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities but made no provision for verification. Iran agreed to only allow U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors at government-approved sites, banning them from inspecting military facilities. “This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” Trump told a national audience. Trump defied the U.K, France, Russia, China and German, all signatories to the agreement, but had nothing to do with the two-year negotiation. U.S. allies believe that some agreement is better than no agreement.
Trump disagreed with that logic, saying that the billions in sanctions relievf and $1.6 billion cash payment helped Iran increase military spending by 40%. Shouted a question at the end of his remarks about how ending the agreement made the U.S. safer, Trump said the new sanctions put more strain on Iran’s already beleaguered Iranian economy. Trump‘s detractors accept the prevailing wisdom than any agreement is better that no agreement. Canceling Obama’s 2015 Nuke Deal, Trump made clear that without intrusive IAEA inspections at Iran’s military sites, the agreement was worthless. “France, Germany and the United Kingdom regret the U.S. decision to get out of the Iranian nuclear deal,” French President Emanuel Macron tweeted. “The international regime against nuclear proliferation is at stake,” saying nothing about the JCPA’s lack of verification at Iran’s military sites.
Unlike the U.S., the European Union does more business with Iran, buying Iranian oil and exporting goods into the Iranian market. There’s a big difference between havong financial interests in Iran and doing what’s right with what Trump called “the world’s biggest state sponsor of terror.” Trump emphasized that the 2015 deal did nothing to stop Iran from supplying Houthi rebels in Yemen ballistic missiles to fire at U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Nor did the Nuke Deal stop Iran from supplying missiles to Gaza-based Hamas and Beirut-based Hezbollah with which to attack U.S. ally Israel. Iran said April 12 it “would turn Tel Aviv and Haifa to dust” if Israel continues to attack Iranian military bases in Syria. U.K and EU officials take a self-interested stand on the Iranian Nuke Deal. Trump emphasized that the Nuke Deal did nothing for restrain Iran’s aggressive military ambitions.
Signing the executive order to withdraw from Obama’s agreement, Trump concluded that only imposing new economic sanctions does the U.S. have any chance of reining in Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism. Imposing fresh new economic sanctions should help Tehran think twice about spending its resources on destabilizing the Mideast and North Africa. Calling Obama’s agreement “under a decaying and rotten structure of the current deal,” Trump tried for months to get the U.K. and EU to add-on to the agreement, something resisted by Iran. Before heading to North Korea to set up talks with dictator Kim Jong-un, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he notified EU leaders Monday of Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Nuke Deal. When Trump hosted French President Emnanuel Macron April 24, he made clear his intent to end U.S. involvement in the Nuke Deal.
While the EU talks of some agreement being better than no agreement, or as Macron likes to say Plan B, Trump made clear that re-instituting harsh economic sanctions was the only way to get through to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Whatever the merits of the Nuke Deal, they didn’t stop Iran from sponsoring proxy wars in Yemen and Syria. EU officials wanted to keep the agreement and try to get Iran to add on to the 2015 accord, especially concerns about the lack of IAEA inspections at Iran’s military sites. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Zarif have ruled out any changes or add-ons to the 2015 agreement. Deciding to end Obama’s 2015 Nuke Deal, Trump decided it was not in the national security interests of the United States. Trump saw the current agreement as emboldening Iran to take more aggressive actions in the Middle East.
Ending U.S. involvement in Obama’s 2015 JCPA, Trump set a new U.S. foreign policy based on what’s good for America and its allies not what’s good for the EU or international community. Iran insists it’s been in compliance with the 2015 agreement but only because the deal doesn’t permit IAEA inspections at Iran’s sensitive military sites. Trump reported on new intel that indicates that Iran’s been cheating on the current deal, unable for the U.N. or U.S. to verify because of Iran’s refusal to allow IAEA inspectors into military facilities. Trump believes canceling the Nuke Deal helps the U.S. apply more pressure on Iran to maintain compliance, or, more importantly, agree to allow IAEA inspectors into sensitive military sites. Hitting Iran with new sanctions forces the Islamic Republic to choose between illicit nuclear activities or face dire economic consequences, including restricting oil exports.
