Iran Deal, the reset..... and halt

Halifax2TheMax

PJ_Soul said:

Iran ‘prepared for all scenarios’ after Trump nixes nuclear deal, officials say

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-prepared-for-all-scenarios-if-trump-nixes-nuclear-deal-officials-say/2018/05/08/531047a0-5241-11e8-a6d4-ca1d035642ce_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.befdc678cca7&wpisrc=al_news__alert-world--alert-national&wpmk=1

Iranian Pres. Hassan Rouhani said he has directed his diplomats to negotiate with European countries, Russia and China about remaining in the nuclear deal despite the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement.

But Rouhani said Iran is ready to start unlimited uranium enrichment if these negotiations do not yield benefits in a couple of weeks.

Iranian officials struck a defiant tone Tuesday as President Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran, a move that reimposes harsh economic sanctions and could prompt Iran to restart suspended nuclear activities.

Trump, a longtime critic of the 2015 agreement, announced his decision on the deal from the White House Tuesday afternoon, abandoning the accord that was signed under President Barack Obama.

“The United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said in a televised speech. He called it “a horrible, one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” and he asserted that Iran harbors ambitions to build nuclear weapons.

Trump said he would begin reinstating “powerful” U.S. nuclear-related sanctions against Iran. But he offered no specifics on the sanctions to be reimposed.

The decision could trigger renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil sales and Central Bank, potentially disrupting Iran's global financial transactions and putting further pressure on its already volatile economy. It also could put European allies in a bind over whether to continue the economic dealmaking they launched with Iran since the accord was implemented in early 2016. The allies have stood firmly behind the accord, which was negotiated between Iran and six world powers: the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

The allies could also suffer penalties under renewed U.S. sanctions, removing incentives to continue to invest in Iran.

In his speech, Trump also accused Iran of destabilizing the Middle East through its support of militant groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and he charged that Tehran seeks to build “nuclear-capable” ballistic missiles.

“If I allowed this deal to stand, there would soon be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East,” Trump asserted. “We cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement,” he added. “The Iran deal is defective at its core.”

As part of the nuclear deal, Iran pledged never to “seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” Iran’s supreme religious and political leader has declared nuclear weapons to be un-Islamic, saying that its nuclear program is aimed solely at producing energy and conducting medical research.

Iranian leaders said Tuesday that the country would stand united in the face of any new sanctions or threats from the United States.

Iran “could face some problems” if Trump restores sanctions, Rouhani said at a petroleum conference in the capital, Tehran, before Trump announced his decision. “But we will move on.”

“If we are under sanctions or not, we should stand on our feet,” the Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

Rouhani's first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, said the government has “a plan for managing the country under any circumstances.”

In remarks reported by Iran's Tasnim News Agency, Jahangiri, a popular reformist, said it would be “naive” to enter into negotiations with the United States again.

The comments underscored a growing debate among political factions in Iran over what to do if after the U.S. withdrawal. Some politicians have urged the government to continue to work with Europe to salvage the accord, which lifted key international sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program.

“If the Europeans are willing to give us sufficient guarantees, it makes sense for us to stay in the deal,” the deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Motahari, said in remarks carried by the Iranian Students' News Agency.

Motahari said Iran should wait several months to see whether Europe plans to resist U.S. pressure to disengage from the Iranian economy, where European companies have invested in sectors ranging from auto manufacturing to oil exploration and tourism.

If Europe succeeds, “this is a victory for Iran, because it will have created a gap between the United States and Europe,” he said.

But others have been less forgiving, urging Iran's leaders to immediately withdraw and restart suspended elements of the country's nuclear program if the United States left the deal. Fliers circulating online called for a rally in Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad to “set the JCPOA on fire.” The nuclear deal is also known as the JCPOA, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The Iranian parliament’s Nuclear Committee published three actions that the government could take if Trump leaves the deal, including installing more centrifuges and enriching uranium beyond the levels allowed under the accord. Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear power plants or — if enriched at much higher levels — as fissile material for nuclear weapons.

If Trump confronts Iran, “we will not remain passive,” the head of the National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said Tuesday in an interview with the Hamshahri newspaper.

He said Europe made a mistake when its leaders appeased Trump by attempting to extract further concessions from Iran, including a potential halt to its ballistic missile program. The nuclear deal was the result of painstaking negotiations over two years between the Rouhani administration and the world powers, including the Obama administration.

While Iran accepted severe limits to its nuclear program, including inspections, critics said the deal failed to address other problematic aspects of Iranian policy, including its missile development and support for militant groups in Iraq and Syria.

“The Islamic Republic will stand firmly against this threat,” Shamkhani said of the Trump administration's stance.

Even as Iranian leaders vowed to weather the storm, Iran's economy was already feeling the strain. Iran’s Central Bank governor, Valiollah Seif, downplayed any potential shock to Iranian markets, which have been roiled by high inflation and a collapsing currency.

“We are prepared for all scenarios,” Seif said on state television. “If America pulls out of the deal, our economy will not be impacted.”

But the Iranian rial was trading Tuesday at near record lows against the dollar, as Iranians looked to buy hard currency ahead of Trump’s announcement, economists said.

According to Pratibha Thaker, an Iran expert at the Economist Intelligence Unit, a risk analysis group, Trump's withdrawal from the pact would accelerate regional insecurity, cause a dip in global oil supplies and plunge the Iranian economy into recession.

“Anxiety, stress . . . [these are] people's feelings just hours before Mr. Trump's extraordinary decision,” an Iranian journalist, Amine Sherifkan, posted on Twitter.

Worsening economic woes could spell trouble for Rouhani, a moderate cleric who championed the nuclear deal as a way to jump-start Iran’s economy and end the country’s isolation.

Rouhani staked much of his political credibility on the nuclear deal with world powers. But even as oil exports picked up in the wake of the agreement, ordinary Iranians have said they felt few tangible benefits from the accord.

my concerns in bold but for the sweet baby jesus, why does the US keep fucking with everyone? I thought Team Trump Treason was the master negotiator and deal maker?

Kat

Now he's the master reneger and deal reneger.  Pathetic.

Halifax2TheMax

And let us not forget that Bibi is also under investigation in Israel and worried about keeping his position of power. Two corrupt politicians schemimng to take the heat off. No wonder they'll name a square after Team Trump Treason.

gimmesometruth27

more neocon bullshit. i thought we were through with this in 2008?

Halifax2TheMax

Boeing and Airbus lost $39 billion worth of business due to Team Trump Treason reneging on the Iran deal. How many of Boeing’s employees vote?

mickeyrat

repeal and replace worked so well on ACA , why not here too?

mickeyrat

does he think europe wants to lose that business to be had there?

catefrances

Halifax2TheMax said:

Boeing and Airbus lost $39 billion worth of business due to Team Trump Treason reneging on the Iran deal. How many of Boeing’s employees vote?

in all due respect, who gives a fuck? its not about peoples jobs.. nor should itever be. its about peace. unfortunately in this case, peace is propoganda.  the US govt doesnt give a fuck about 'the people' or peace.  and especially in the middle east. if they did theyd stop supporting the apartheid govt of israel. 

Halifax2TheMax

gimmesometruth27 said:

more neocon bullshit. i thought we were through with this in 2008?

C’mon man, Team Trump Treason is going to address the final two axis of evil once and for all during his first term and MAGA and by default the world.

PJ_Soul

Crazy times. The world is sincerely asking if North Korea can trust America instead of the other way around. I really never saw that coming!

RYME

Ya know what? 
If Obama had gotten the Iran deal accomplished via treaty which requires Congressional approval, Trump would not have been able to do or undo as it were, what he did yesterday.  Would have been damn near impossible to reverse.
I'd like to thank Obama for leaving a way out of the bad deal, that Iran never singed off on any way.

Halifax2TheMax

RYME said:

Ya know what? 
If Obama had gotten the Iran deal accomplished via treaty which requires Congressional approval, Trump would not have been able to do or undo as it were, what he did yesterday.  Would have been damn near impossible to reverse.
I'd like to thank Obama for leaving a way out of the bad deal, that Iran never singed off on any way.

"Our number one priority is to see this Administration fail."

So, what replaces the Iran deal? What is TTT going to do? What was so bad about the US verified and certified Iran deal that all 5 UN permanent Security Council members approved, along with the EU? Was Iran in compliance?

rgambs

RYME said:

Ya know what? 
If Obama had gotten the Iran deal accomplished via treaty which requires Congressional approval, Trump would not have been able to do or undo as it were, what he did yesterday.  Would have been damn near impossible to reverse.
I'd like to thank Obama for leaving a way out of the bad deal, that Iran never singed off on any way.

I don't believe you understand the details of the "bad deal" at all and you only call it that because the leader of your cult of personality says so.

mrussel1

RYME said:

Ya know what? 
If Obama had gotten the Iran deal accomplished via treaty which requires Congressional approval, Trump would not have been able to do or undo as it were, what he did yesterday.  Would have been damn near impossible to reverse.
I'd like to thank Obama for leaving a way out of the bad deal, that Iran never singed off on any way.

That's Sasse's point, and I understand it.  The problem is that the GOP still has the hawks controlling it.  In 2015, there was no way the Senate was going to approve that deal.  Obama banked on Hillary winning, protecting the deal through 2020 at least.  It will be interesting to see if Trump puts any "treaty" through the Senate, and what happens then.  

mrussel1

RYME said:

Ya know what? 
If Obama had gotten the Iran deal accomplished via treaty which requires Congressional approval, Trump would not have been able to do or undo as it were, what he did yesterday.  Would have been damn near impossible to reverse.
I'd like to thank Obama for leaving a way out of the bad deal, that Iran never singed off on any way.

Iran signed the deal.  What do you mean by that?

tbergs

mrussel1 said:

RYME said:

Ya know what? 
If Obama had gotten the Iran deal accomplished via treaty which requires Congressional approval, Trump would not have been able to do or undo as it were, what he did yesterday.  Would have been damn near impossible to reverse.
I'd like to thank Obama for leaving a way out of the bad deal, that Iran never singed off on any way.

Iran signed the deal.  What do you mean by that?

Clearly making up points fed from somewhere else to support Trump without understanding why.

Halifax2TheMax

catefrances said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

Boeing and Airbus lost $39 billion worth of business due to Team Trump Treason reneging on the Iran deal. How many of Boeing’s employees vote?

in all due respect, who gives a fuck? its not about peoples jobs.. nor should itever be. its about peace. unfortunately in this case, peace is propoganda.  the US govt doesnt give a fuck about 'the people' or peace.  and especially in the middle east. if they did theyd stop supporting the apartheid govt of israel. 

Oh but it is about people’s jobs, particularly in defense industries. I just happen to care more about civilian related jobs, passenger jets, rather than defense related jobs, fighter jets and related munitions. But that’s just me.

my2hands

rgambs said:

RYME said:

Ya know what? 
If Obama had gotten the Iran deal accomplished via treaty which requires Congressional approval, Trump would not have been able to do or undo as it were, what he did yesterday.  Would have been damn near impossible to reverse.
I'd like to thank Obama for leaving a way out of the bad deal, that Iran never singed off on any way.

I don't believe you understand the details of the "bad deal" at all and you only call it that because the leader of your cult of personality says so.

Halifax2TheMax

So, when are the 4 US hostages coming home?

josevolution

So pulling out of deal means Israel can have free reign !