Retaliating for 74-year-old President Donald Trump canceling U.S. involvement in 58-year-old former President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) AKA “the Iranian Nuke Deal May 8, 2018, the U.N. Security rejected U.S. calls for “snap-back sanctions.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 56, hoped U.S. allies would go along with “snap-back” sanctions claiming Iran violated the JCPOA. Actually, Iran never really complied with the JCPOA since Obama signed the deal July 15, 2015, because U.N. weapons inspectors never got access to Iran’s sensitive nuclear sites. U.N. Council members rejected calls by Pompeo for “snap-back” sanctions, in what looks like a stunning rebuke of U.S. foreign policy. At least 13 of 15 Security Council members rebuffed Pompeo’s calls to implement new sanction on Iran, despite knowing Iran violated of the JCPOA.
U.N. Security Council members weren’t happy when Trump bailed out of the Iranian Nuke Deal, negotiated for over two years by 75-year-old former Secretary of State John Kerry and 60-year-old Iranian Foreign Mohammed Javad Zarif. Kerry’s JCPOA gave Iran $1.8 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to suspend its weapons grade uranium enrichment program. Signing the JCPOA, Iran agreed to suspend weapons grade uranium for a period of 10 years, after which the terms-and-conditions would have to be renegotiated. Obama and Kerry were warned in the strongest possible terms by 71-year-old Israeli Pirme Minister Benjamin Netanyahu March 3, 2015 to a Joint Session of Congress of Iran’s intent to build an A-bomb. After Netanyahu’s speech, welcomed by Republicans, Obama shunned Israel for the remaining two years of his presidency.
Netanyahu told a Joint Session of Congress that Iran would secretly spurn the agreement, going about its nuclear business covertly at highly secret military sites, not part of the JCPOA mandatory inspections. When you look at the risks to the Security Council, you’d think they’d have the common sense to know Iran has destabilized the Mideast and North Africa before-and-after signing the JCPOA. When you consider Iran is a major arms supplier to Yemen’s Houthi rebels since March 19, 2015, fighting a deadly proxy war with Saudi Arabia, you’d think the Security Council would do everything possible to re-impose sanctions. Since collecting all the cash July 15, 2015, Iran has gone wild sponsoring proxy war in Yemen and against Israel, funneling rockets-and-cash to Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, both also in a proxy war against Israel.
Rejecting Pompeo’s request for snap-back sanctions shows the extent to which key members of the U.N. Security, especially France and Germany, harbor resentment over Trump’s June 23, 2016 support for the U.K.’s Brexit vote. Trump joined 56-year-old Brexit sponsor Nigel Farage as a vociferous backer of the U.K bailing out of the European Union. After winning the presidency Nov. 4, 2016, Trump was concerned about the flood of Syrian refugees from Obama and Biden’s Syrian proxy war, flooding Europe since 2011 with Mideast refugees. Obama’s eight-year backing of the Saudi-backed proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad caused over 500,000 deaths and 15 million refugees, turning at least 52% of British citizens away from the EU. Key EU members like 66-year-old German Chancellor Angela Merkel and 42-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron turned against Trump.
Russia and China have their own ax to grind against the U.S., rejecting Pompeo’s request for “snap-back” sanctions. No one on the Security Council thinks Iran is trustworthy to abide the terms of the JCPOA, yet competing interests over pipelines, gas sales and especially of the Covid-19 global pandemic turned China and Russia away from backing Pompeo’s call for new sanctions. Saudi Arabia can only sit back and groan, watching the Security Council essentially reward Iran for its proxy wars in Saudi Arabia and Israel. It’s incredibly naïve to think the Security Council’s refusal to back Pompeo’s request is because they don’t like U.S. arrogance. Security Council members like France, Germany, China and Russia all have an ax to grind against Trump, knowing he hasn’t joined the global bandwagon like Obama, to go along with U.S. allies simply to get along certain Council members.
Defeating Pompeo’s resolution for “snap-back” sanctions, the Security Council played payback for Trump bailing out of the JCPOA, but, more importantly, supporting Brexit that lost the EU $3.8 trillion on wealth, a huge embarrassment for Merkel and Macron. Trump backed Brexit much the same way he backed his Mideast ban at a time that terrorism was popping back up on U.S. streets. British citizens had it with July 7, 2005 London Tube bombing up to the Ariana Grande Manchester Arena bombing May 22, 2017, killing 23 British citizens. Whatever the petty reasons from rejecting “snap-back” sanctions, Pompeo told the Security Council that they backed Iran’s Ayatollah. “The underlying point here is that most countries on the Security Council basically agree with the US that Iran is not a nice country and it having nuclear weapons and more arms is not a good thing,” said U.N. Amb. Kelly Kraft.
