Macron Emphasises “We Must Follow” All Inked Agreements… Even Iran Deal

_________________________

On Friday, during a plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), French President Emmanuel Macron stated that all parties must honour signed accords, including the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear programme:

I want us to respect each other so that there won’t be any kind of interference. If we sign an agreement, we need to stick to it, no matter who chooses to leave. What we sign, we must follow. We must fight for sovereignty to remain an inalienable right. I’m committed to the sovereignty of France and the choice it made when it signed a nuclear agreement with Iran. It was our choice. Today, we need to develop a multilateral approach to international issues. It includes sovereignty. We can’t trust each other if we don’t respect ourselves, and I think that we need to fight for all to respect sovereignty in this sphere. Sovereignty serves as a necessary base for cyberspace, data protection, and sovereign debates. There needs to be strong sovereignty for us to implement all global rules.

In 2015, Iran and six major powers (Russia, the USA, France, the UK, China, and Germany) agreed on a final Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which particularly stipulated the removal of sanctions imposed on Tehran. In turn, Iran would limit its nuclear programme and submit it to international supervision. On 8 May, Trump announced that Washington was pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. He said that the USA would restore previous sanctions against Iran and introduce new ones in case Tehran attempted to pursue its nuclear ambitions. In the wake of Trump’s decision, the leaders of the UK, Germany, and France called on other participants of the deal to continue their commitments to it. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran wouldn’t abandon the JCPOA and would continue to comply with its obligations, as long as the agreement takes into account Iran’s interests. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed disappointment in Trump’s decision and called it a front for the USA to settle its political scores with Iran.

25 May 2018

TASS

http://tass.com/world/1006600

Advertisement

EU Slams Pompeo’s Iran Strategy: It Won’t Make Region Safer From Nuclear Threat

________________________

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s promise to slap the “strongest sanctions in history” on Tehran after Washington’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal prompted an outcry from European officials. EU foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini, commenting on the possible unprecedented sanctions against Iran pledged by Pompeo, warned:

There’s no alternative to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Secretary Pompeo’s speech hasn’t demonstrated how walking away from the JCPOA made or will make the region safer from the threat of nuclear proliferation or how it puts us in a better position to influence Iran’s conduct in areas outside the scope of JCPOA. The Iran nuclear deal is the result of more than a decade of complex and delicate negotiations; it’s the best possible outcome, striking the right balance. This deal belongs to the international community, endorsed by the UN Security Council. The international community expects all sides to keep the commitments they made more than two years ago. Iran’s adheres to the JCPOA; the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed ten times that Iran delivered on all its nuclear-related commitments.

Just hours before Pompeo’s speech on Iran, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson declared:

Washington’s plan to tighten the screws against the Islamic Republic won’t work. If you try now to fold all those issues… the ballistic missiles, Iran’s misbehaviour, Iran’s disruptive activity in the region and the nuclear question… if you try to fold all those into a giant negotiation, I don’t see that being very easy to achieve, in anything like a reasonable timetable. After Washington’s exit from the Iran nuclear deal, the prospect of a new jumbo Iran treaty is going to be very, very difficult. I’m not totally pessimistic about the situation. In the end, there’s a deal to be done that gives Iran greater economic access to the West but also constrains it. I think, in the end, we’ll get back to the kind of additions to the JCPOA that we initially envisaged, but it may take a long time.

For his part, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said:

Berlin took into account the US position. It didn’t come as a surprise. During my visit to Washington later this week, I’ll meet with Pompeo to discuss the issue. The situation hasn’t changed for us. During its summit in Sofia, the EU gave a unified signal that we want to keep the Iran nuclear deal. Without this agreement, we could run the risk that Iran could restart a nuclear programme.

In turn, the Iranian Foreign Ministry used stern language to comment on Pompeo’s speech:

Iran rejects the allegations and lies in this so-called new strategy; it condemns the US Secretary of State’s open interference in its internal affairs and its unlawful threats against a UN member state. Pompeo’s remarks are a naïve attempt to divert the international community’s attention away from Washington’s violation of the JCPOA. The US government will be responsible for the consequences of any persecution as well as unlawful and violent actions against the Iranian nation. The insignificant, insulting, and secondary remarks of the new US Secretary of State and his unacceptable attitude to the great and civilised Iranian nation testify to the US government officials’ despair and helpless stance on the Iranians.

In his speech “After the Deal: A New Iran Strategy” at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Pompeo pledged:

The USA will apply unprecedented financial pressure on Tehran via sanctions. The sting of sanctions won’t ease until Iran changes its course. The new sanctions will be the strongest in history and will make Tehran battle to keep its economy alive. The USA would hold any entity conducting business with Tehran to account; we hope that US allies beyond Europe will support the new anti-Iranian sanctions.

In early May, President Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, in a move that sparked a cold snap in Washington’s ties with its European allies and co-signatories to the deal, including the EU, Germany, France, the UK, Iran, Russia, and China.

22 May 2018

Sputnik International

https://sputniknews.com/world/201805221064672753-pompeo-iran-sanctions-mogherini

Editor:

The USA is sounding desperate. It doesn’t have the ground forces to attack Iran… neither can it count on any from its allies, especially not from the KSA and Israel, which are its only local allies with any substantive ground forces (and they don’t match the Iranian ground forces in size). Naval force is irrelevant, as carriers couldn’t operate in the Persian Gulf and Iran could trade via land links to China and Russia. Air forces would face a robust air-defence system. Therefore, the only card left to the peevish Anglo toddlers is the nuclear option. With the adolescent Trump in charge, we’re in the deep kimchi, indeed. The only saving grace in this is that Hillary would’ve already used nukes on Iran… God alone knows what that would’ve led to.

The world holds its breath and waits…

BMD

15 May 2018. Dr Jill Asks… “Who’s the Nuclear Outlaw?”

________________________

Israel screams about Iran’s nonexistent nuclear arsenal. Estimates say that Israel has 400 nuclear warheads. One of these things is not like the other. President Rouhani has no nukes at his disposal. Bibi does… fancy that. Who’s the liar? I think that the answer’s clear…

BMD

European Foreign Policy Chief Frederica Mogherini: Trump “Systematically Destroying and Dismantling Everything”

________________________

As the EU increasingly faces an atmosphere of disunity and disruption, Trump’s ditching the JCPOA only threatens to make matters worse for Europe. However, that’s not all, EU foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini noted that it also increasingly isolates America. She pointed up, “no country’s big enough to face this world alone”. It seems that Trump’s hubris is big enough to try it.

Politico reported that on Friday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the Iran nuclear deal can survive without US support. Speaking at a State of the Union conference, Mogherini said she received assurances from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that his country would stand by the agreement, despite US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw and reimpose sanctions on Iran earlier this week. Mogherini said:

We’re determined to keep this deal in place, only Iran has the power to wreck the deal unilaterally.

The Italian diplomat will meet with the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and the UK… the three European powers that brokered the nuclear deal along with the EU, USA, China, and Russia… in Brussels Tuesday to discuss the future of the agreement. The European diplomats will also meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The Europeans seek to demonstrate that they can still deliver most of the economic benefits they promised Tehran in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons programme and allowing a robust system of international inspections, as well as persuade European companies active in Iran not to abandon their deals out of fear of penalties from the USA. In her speech, Mogherini took several shots at Trump, though she didn’t mention the US President by name, saying:

It seems that screaming, shouting, insulting, and bullying, systematically destroying and dismantling everything that’s already in place, is the mood of our times. While the secret of change… and we need change… is to put all energies not in destroying the old, but rather in building the new. This impulse to destroy isn’t leading us anywhere good. It isn’t solving any of our problems.

Europe has gone along with just about everything that America has asked for, and sometimes, even volunteering. Whether it’s been war or economic sanctions, Europe was gung-ho about showing some solidarity with American interests in the hopes of scoring some brownie points with the Americans, both over the business of security, as well as obtaining America’s interest in joining in on European market initiatives. However, it hasn’t all been quite as rosy as was hoped. Europe hasn’t been paying attention to America’s belligerent and narcissistic ways. America has overthrown régimes, waged wars and slighted international law whenever it suits them. Why, then, should they be expected to be a reliable partner in anything, when they have such a long history of breaking their word and violating their own principles? Now, it seems, Europe is finally starting to see what their unfaithful partner is really about.

13 May 2018

Frank Sellars

The Duran

http://theduran.com/trump-destroying-and-dismantling-everything-says-eu-foreign-policy-chief/

Editor:

Trump has three options, none of them good.

• He can attack the Europeans for not going along with him. He might get the UK on board, but it’d piss off the Continental Europeans.
• He can withdraw his statement, but due to the US domestic political situation, which isn’t good for him at all, this is dead on arrival.
• He can also do nothing. That is, Europe goes its way; the USA goes its way… with no fuss on either side.

The last is the most likely outcome. However, Trump is used to “firing” those who displease him, but he has no control over foreign figures. He can’t simply fire and humiliate them like a character on The Apprentice. That’s where the danger comes in. Trump is juvenile, narcissistic, and sadistic. When vexed, he tends to strike out (I should mention that as bad and incoherent as Trump is, Hillary is far worse… her feral and grasping narcissism makes his self-centred greed seem innocent and childlike in comparison). As POTUS, he has control of the “bomb button”. If that doesn’t scare you…

BMD