Trump’s ‘God Bless the USA’ Bibles Were Made in China, Raising Eyebrows

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Key U.S. lawmakers back enforcing, not ditching, Iran pact

By Patricia Zengerle

 

Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce (R-CA) arrives for a hearing with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on "Advancing U.S. Interests at the United Nations" in Washington, U.S., June 28, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee said on Wednesday the international nuclear deal with Iran should be strictly enforced by Washington working with its allies, but did not call for an end to the agreement.

 

"As flawed as the deal is, I believe we must now enforce the hell out of it," Representative Ed Royce said at a hearing. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce on Friday a new strategy for Iran that could include a first step towards the United States exiting the agreement.

 

Royce, like every other Republican in the U.S. Congress, opposed the nuclear agreement reached under President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in 2015 and signed by the United States, Iran, China, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union.

 

Several of Obama's fellow Democrats also opposed the deal, including Representative Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the foreign affairs panel.

 

Engel said at the hearing that killing the deal would be a "grave mistake," since it is in place and backed by U.S. allies and other powers.

 

"We need to work with allies and partners on a shared agenda that holds the regime in Iran accountable, not dividing America from our closest friends across the globe," he said.

 

Trump is expected to announce an "overall Iran strategy," including whether to decertify the international deal curbing Tehran's nuclear programme ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline.

 

The agreement, under which Iran agreed to freeze its nuclear programme for 15 years in exchange for sanctions relief, is viewed in Europe as a rare triumph of international diplomacy in the Middle East.

 

If Trump declines to certify the Iran deal, it would open a 60-day window in which U.S. congressional leaders could move quickly to reimpose sanctions on Tehran suspended under the agreement.

 

That could be a first step towards Washington exiting the agreement, something strongly opposed by European allies.

 

If Congress does not act, however, it would leave the agreement in place. Many congressional sources and others familiar with the process say the Trump administration is considering using decertification to increase pressure on Tehran, not to end the deal.

 

Iranian officials have said they will not renegotiate.

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-12

[Emster23]

" If Trump declines to certify the Iran deal, it would open a 60-day window in which U.S. congressional leaders could move quickly to reimpose sanctions on Tehran suspended under the agreement. "

 Simple solution: don't reimpose sanctions. Ignore Trump and his bombast and do the adult thing

[tonray]

39 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

" If Trump declines to certify the Iran deal, it would open a 60-day window in which U.S. congressional leaders could move quickly to reimpose sanctions on Tehran suspended under the agreement. "

 Simple solution: don't reimpose sanctions. Ignore Trump and his bombast and do the adult thing

 

Trump is setting up Congress with these moves. He gets to say he fulfilled his campaign promises and Congress gets to deal with the fallout. He will then lambast them on twitter during the election campaign to get his right wing Bannon stooges elected. This is very bad and Congress is too stupid to realize what is about to happen.

[boomerangutang]

Trump could scuttle the Iran agreement by himself, but he's a coward, so he will instead dump it on Congress' lap.   

 

Like so many other important issues, Trump is in a minority of one.  Everyone else (except maybe hate-non-whites Bannon and sheep-brain Pence) agrees the Iran agreements should be maintained.

It's yet another reason for Europeans to hate Trump.  Additionally, no one ww, including NK, will trust the US for keeping a deal.   Trump shattered trust in the US, with pulling out of Paris Accords - now he's doing it again with Iran.  Thanks Trump, you're a one-man, shit-on-the-US machine.  

 

[boomerangutang]

Most folks like win-win solutions.   Trump likes lose-lose.

[ilostmypassword]

Trump actually has the option to reimpose sanctions all by himself. Instead he's punting to Congress.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/6/16435330/trump-iran-deal-decertify-withdraw

[selftaopath]

5 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

Trump could scuttle the Iran agreement by himself, but he's a coward, so he will instead dump it on Congress' lap.   

 

Like so many other important issues, Trump is in a minority of one.  Everyone else (except maybe hate-non-whites Bannon and sheep-brain Pence) agrees the Iran agreements should be maintained.

It's yet another reason for Europeans to hate Trump.  Additionally, no one ww, including NK, will trust the US for keeping a deal.   Trump shattered trust in the US, with pulling out of Paris Accords - now he's doing it again with Iran.  Thanks Trump, you're a one-man, shit-on-the-US machine.  

 

Ah yes but I bet you his boss in Russia is very pleased. They are dismantling democracy w/out firing a shot. Congress is so cowardly they will just let this happen. Dark times for America and democracy.

[tonray]

1 hour ago, selftaopath said:

Ah yes but I bet you his boss in Russia is very pleased. They are dismantling democracy w/out firing a shot. Congress is so cowardly they will just let this happen. Dark times for America and democracy.

The only problem for Russia is that the path for Chinese ascendancy is clearer now and I doubt they will be as reasonable an adversary as we are.

[Morch]

14 hours ago, Emster23 said:

" If Trump declines to certify the Iran deal, it would open a 60-day window in which U.S. congressional leaders could move quickly to reimpose sanctions on Tehran suspended under the agreement. "

 Simple solution: don't reimpose sanctions. Ignore Trump and his bombast and do the adult thing

 

And yet a lot of damage will be done regardless - to the USA's international standing, and possibly to the monitoring regime.

 

13 hours ago, tonray said:

 

Trump is setting up Congress with these moves. He gets to say he fulfilled his campaign promises and Congress gets to deal with the fallout. He will then lambast them on twitter during the election campaign to get his right wing Bannon stooges elected. This is very bad and Congress is too stupid to realize what is about to happen.

 

Doubt that "Congress is too stupid to realize what is about to happen." Such assessments and scenarios were aired even before Trump won the elections. And politicians are usually quite aware of when it comes to threats on their position.

 

Wonder if there's a legal mechanism which allows Congress to reject Trump's move (on what grounds, though?) and return it to sender.