Trump abandons 'defective' Iran nuclear deal, to revive sanctions

[webfact]

Trump abandons 'defective' Iran nuclear deal, to revive sanctions

By Steve Holland

 

U.S. President Donald Trump displays a presidential memorandum after announcing his intent to withdraw from the JCPOA Iran nuclear agreement in the Diplomatic Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 8, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday pulled the United States out of an international nuclear deal with Iran in a step that will raise the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upset America's European allies and bring uncertainty to global oil supplies.

 

Trump, speaking in a televised address from the White House, said he would reimpose economic sanctions on Iran.

 

"This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made," Trump said. "It didn't bring calm. It didn't bring peace. And it never will."

 

The 2015 deal, worked out by the United States, five other international powers and Iran, eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country limiting its nuclear programme. The pact is seen by many in the West as a way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

 

But Trump complains that the agreement, the signature foreign policy achievement of his predecessor Barack Obama, does not address Iran's ballistic missile programme, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 nor its role in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.

 

He also said the agreement did not prevent Iran from cheating and continuing to pursue nuclear weapons.

 

"It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement," he said. "The Iran deal is defective at its core." 

 

Trump said he was willing to negotiate a new deal with Iran, but Tehran already has ruled that out and threatened unspecified retaliation if Washington pulled out.

 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Iran will remain in the nuclear deal without Washington.

 

Iranian state television said Trump's decision to withdraw was "illegal, illegitimate and undermines international agreements."

 

Abandoning the Iran pact is part of Trump's high-stakes "America First" policy, which has seen the United States announce its withdrawal last year from the Paris climate accord and come close to a trade war with China.

 

Trump has attempted to erase major parts of Democrat Obama's legacy and last year withdrew from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the Paris climate accord.

 

Renewing sanctions would make it much harder for Iran to sell its oil abroad or use the international banking system.

 

Oil prices recouped some losses after Trump's announcement, in a volatile session in which prices slumped as much as 4 percent earlier in the day.

 

Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled 1.7 percent lower at $74.85 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 ended the session 2.4 percent lower at $69.06 per barrel.

 

Wall Street remained in negative territory while energy stocks cut earlier losses after Trump spoke.

 

Trump's decision is a snub to European allies such as France, Britain and Germany who also are part of the Iran deal and tried hard to convince the U.S. president to preserve it. The Europeans must now scramble to decide their own course of action with Tehran.

 

China and Russia also are signatories to the Iran deal.

 

RENEWED SANCTIONS

Trump did not provide details of what he described as the “highest level of economic sanctions” that he is reimposing on Iran.

 

According to the U.S. Treasury, sanctions related to Iran's energy, auto and financial sectors will be reimposed in three and six months.

 

Iran's growing military and political power in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq worries the United States, Israel and U.S. Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia.

 

Israel has traded blows with Iranian forces in Syria since February, stirring concern that major escalation could be looming.

 

Minutes before Trump's announcement, Israel said it had instructed local authorities in the Israeli-held Golan Heights to "unlock and ready (bomb) shelters" after identifying what the military described as "irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria."

 

The military statement said its defence systems had been deployed "and IDF (Israel Defence Force) troops are on high alert for an attack."

 

Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said abandoning the Iran deal was a threat to U.S. national security.

 

"With this decision President Trump is risking U.S. national security, recklessly upending foundational partnerships with key U.S. allies in Europe and gambling with Israel’s security," Menendez said.

 

(Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann, Makini Brice, Warren Strobel and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Ayenat Mersie in New York, Sybille de La Hamaide, John Irish and Tim Hepher in Paris, Parisa Hafezi in Ankara, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London, Andrew Torchia in Dubai; Writing by William Maclean and Alistair Bell; Editing by Peter Graff, Yara Bayoumy and Bill Trott)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-09

[webfact]

U.S. making "grave mistake" in quitting Iran nuclear deal-Merkel ally

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - A senior ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that the United States had made a "grave mistake" in pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and said Germany and the European Union should not follow the U.S. lead.

 

Juergen Hardt, who was until recently Germany's transatlantic coordinator and is now a foreign policy expert for Merkel's conservatives, also said: "Based on Iran's behaviour up until now with regard to its obligations in the agreement, there is no reason for Europe to re-introduce sanctions against Iran."

 

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Gareth Jones)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-09

[webfact]

Europe, Iran pledge to uphold pact without United States

 

U.S. President Donald Trump announces his intent to withdraw from the JCPOA Iran nuclear agreement in the Diplomatic Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 8, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Both Washington's European allies and Tehran pledged on Tuesday to uphold the 2015 Iran nuclear deal despite President Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out and reimpose sanctions.

 

European leaders decried Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal, which had lifted sanctions against Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. They called on Washington not to take steps that would prevent other countries from upholding it.

 

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran aimed to continue to comply with the deal's terms, and would swiftly reach out to the its other signatories - Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - to keep it in place.

 

"Together, we emphasise our continuing commitment to the JCPoA," the leaders of Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement, referring to the deal by an acronym. "This agreement remains important for our shared security."

 

"We urge the U.S. to ensure that the structures of the JCPoA can remain intact, and to avoid taking action which obstructs its full implementation by all other parties to the deal," said the statement, provided by British Prime Minister Theresa May's office after she spoke by phone to France's President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel.

 

Macron said he regretted Trump's decision. Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said: "We will try to keep alive this important agreement, which ensures the Middle East and the world as a whole are safer."

 

Moscow said it too would focus its efforts on maintaining the accord. It called Trump's decision "deeply disappointing".

 

"There are no - and can be no - grounds for breaking" the deal, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding the pact had shown its "full efficiency". "The United States is undermining international trust in the International Atomic Energy Agency."

 

EU leaders are concerned that Washington could use its influence over the world's financial system to prevent businesses in other countries that have not reimposed sanctions on Iran from doing business there.

 

As if to hammer home that concern, Trump's new ambassador to Germany, who presented his credentials in Berlin earlier on Tuesday, tweeted that German businesses should halt their activities in Iran immediately.

 

DECISION COULD HELP IRAN HARDLINERS

In Tehran, Rouhani, a relative moderate who faced down hardliners at home to reach the agreement with world powers as part of a policy to open up the country and its economy to the outside world, decried Trump's decision, but said Iran would stick to the deal for now, provided it still works.

 

"If we achieve the deal's goals in cooperation with other members of the deal, it will remain in place," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "I have ordered the foreign ministry to negotiate with the European countries, China and Russia in coming weeks. If at the end of this short period we conclude that we can fully benefit from the JCPoA with the cooperation of all countries, the deal would remain."

 

Iranian officials told Reuters that Trump's decision would set the stage for a resurgence of political infighting within Iran’s complex power structure.

 

The U.S. exit from the deal, so closely associated in Iran with Rouhani, could tip the balance of power in favour of his hardline opponents, some Iran experts said.

 

"They will blame Rouhani ... They will continue their shenanigans at home and abroad. And they will have the U.S. to blame for the failure of the economy," said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford University.

 

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been in power since 1989 and outranks the elected president, had said Iran would "shred" the deal if the United States pulled out.

 

While most U.S. allies decried the Trump administration's decision to unravel the principal foreign policy achievement of his predecessor Barack Obama, the decision was hailed by Washington's two main Middle East allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, both of which long opposed the deal.

 

The deal was "a recipe for disaster, a disaster for our region, a disaster for the peace of the world," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in praising Trump's decision.

 

Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Muslim power that considers Shi'ite Iran to be its main regional foe, also hailed Trump's move.

 

"Iran used economic gains from the lifting of sanctions to continue its activities to destabilise the region, particularly by developing ballistic missiles and supporting terrorist groups in the region," said a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement.

 

But for major European allies, also at odds with Trump over a host of other issues from trade to efforts to tackle global warming, the decision represents a decisive setback.

 

Britain, France and Germany had lobbied the Trump administration hard in recent weeks to keep the deal in place, arguing that it had succeeded in preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons and that to renege on it would damage the credibility of Western countries in future negotiations.

 

EU countries believe it was their decision to stand with the Obama administration and impose firm sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industry in 2011 that pushed Tehran to the negotiating table in the first place.

 

"The European Union is determined to preserve it," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said of the agreement with Tehran, which she helped negotiate as coordinator for the Western countries. "Together with the rest of the international community, we will preserve this nuclear deal."

 

Since the deal was signed, the EU has effectively lifted all sanctions on Iran, but Washington has kept some in place over Iran's missile programme, which was not covered by the deal. That has slowed down a promised boon for the Iranian economy, scaring off foreign investors and making it difficult for Iranian banks to forge links with the outside world.

 

(Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Gareth Jones and Hugh Lawson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-09

[Grouse]

My god

 

This is the most dreadful news

 

It will end in a ME war

 

Maybe the U.K.,  Germany and  France should sign a defence treaty with Iran.

 

What will N Korea think now? They will never trust the USA.

 

As I predicted, we now have a new axis of evil: USA, Israel and USA.

 

Terrible for Iranian moderates. Hardliners will be emboldened.

 

And all to satisfy Trumps voter base 

 

Madness ?

 

 

Edited May 8, 2018 by Grouse

[FritsSikkink]

They need an excuse to start a new war.

[Grouse]

Maybe the E3 can do a deal to enable Iran to trade with Iran in Euros

Edited May 8, 2018 by Grouse

[Grouse]

Can the American Senate / House do anything to bring down this mad man?

[jcsmith]

That's the thing about Trump. Against the advice of allies and many of his own advisers he just does what he wants to do. And he does so without properly researching the decisions he is making. He just doesn't care. He says something and he sticks to it pigheadedly even in the face of evidence which should give him pause. 

[Grouse]

Cancel Trump's visit to the UK

[Grouse]

Maybe the Democrats should declare that they will reinstate the deal immediately Trump is gone!

[Grouse]

I'm really upset and worried about this. 04.30. Can't sleep.

 

?

[Andaman Al]

I watched him announce this live and felt both extreme concern and an overwhelming state of depression. He lied, he mis stated the truth and twisted and spun the facts.

 

This is simply dreadful news. Bolton could barely hide his smile behind the rat on his top lip.

 

I hope that Europe collectively continue to support the deal and the same with China and Russia. We could rapidly see deals to trade in oil in Euro and Yuan.

 

Trump has just committed a crime against humanity, and how can anyone ever trust the US again when deals are agreed and signed and then torn up by the next President. The grave situation that now exists cannot be understated, it is a disaster and makes the US look like complete shysters.

[Andaman Al]

2 minutes ago, Grouse said:

I'm really upset and worried about this. 04.30. Can't sleep.

 

?

I am with ya!  Never has the world needed a special council to complete his job 20 times quicker than expected. Mueller is already 24 hrs too late to indict this monster.

[Damrongsak]

7 minutes ago, jcsmith said:

That's the thing about Trump. Against the advice of allies and many of his own advisers he just does what he wants to do. And he does so without properly researching the decisions he is making. He just doesn't care. He says something and he sticks to it pigheadedly even in the face of evidence which should give him pause. 

Which puts him right up there with other world leaders like the various Ayatollahs, Kim Jong-un and untold others.  Tit for Tat.  Trump Titty Twister. 

[The Old Bull]

NATO members should tell the US to pack up their junk and go home.

[alocacoc]

Trust the process guys. If you can't, take a valium. Everything is fine.

Good move Donald.

Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.

[Kiwiken]

1 hour ago, Grouse said:

My god

 

This is the most dreadful news

 

It will end in a ME war

 

Maybe the U.K.,  Germany and  France should sign a defence treaty with Iran.

 

What will N Korea think now? They will never trust the USA.

 

As I predicted, we now have a new axis of evil: USA, Israel and USA.

 

Terrible for Iranian moderates. Hardliners will be emboldened.

 

And all to satisfy Trumps voter base 

 

Madness ?

 

 

USA-Israel-Saudia Arabia it seems

[Scott]

Sorry, but a post violating Fair Use Policy has been removed.  

[Damrongsak]

39 minutes ago, The Old Bull said:

NATO members should tell the US to pack up their junk and go home.

That would save us a few bucks. 

[Kiwiken]

The Iranians were not developing nuclear weapons before the agreement. Why would they waste scarce resources on them now? As others have pointed out why would North Korea trust the USA now? If Iran want Nukes they need not develop their own simply exchange oil for technology with NK. Well done Trump put us on a firm path to conflict. Israel and Saudi Arabia may bay their support but their populaces are the Ones the US action puts in the firing line.

The US seems to be fostering conflict with many at the moment (Russia, China) plus Trumps policies are alienating his key allies (Europe Britain and Japan).

Many may laud his Hawkish approach but it is the innocents on all sides who will pay.

[Jingthing]

46 minutes ago, alocacoc said:

Trust the process guys. If you can't, take a valium. Everything is fine.

Good move Donald.

Sent from a so called Smartphone using an App.
 

Why is it a good move?

What process?

It's pure IDIOCY.

Americans -- time to get mad as hell and not take this anymore! (Blue wave.)

 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/trump-iran-nuclear-deal-withdrew-out-of-spite-or-ignorance.html

 

Quote

 

Trump Has Wrecked One of the Most Successful Arms-Control Deals in Modern History

The president withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal because of spite, ignorance, or both.

...

So Trump has wrecked one of the most successful arms-control deals in modern history, destroyed any possible leverage to negotiate a new one, further disrupted unity with our allies, further damaged U.S. credibility, strengthened hard-line factions in Iran, exacerbated instability in the Middle East, and possibly boosted the chance of war—which some of Trump’s abettors desire. Quite the deal-maker.

 

 

[Hummin]

11 minutes ago, Damrongsak said:

That would save us a few bucks. 

Really? What a genious you are! Who made America great in the first place? Let me see if you got your facts straight. 

[simple1]

1 hour ago, jcsmith said:

That's the thing about Trump. Against the advice of allies and many of his own advisers he just does what he wants to do. And he does so without properly researching the decisions he is making. He just doesn't care. He says something and he sticks to it pigheadedly even in the face of evidence which should give him pause. 

Trump's lying and proven misinformation regards the OP matter is extraordinary, yet we still see Trump supporters giving him a tick in the box. There is a reasonable possibility the decision will lead to further destablisation in the M.E. as well as strongly undermining the Rule of Law in international affairs. Unfortunately the US VP is a another weirdo so looks like we have to put up with Trump's idiocracy until 2020. Potentially another war, hopefully the only Western combatants will be Trump supporters.

Edited May 8, 2018 by simple1

[Hummin]

At least the Oil prices will go up! That should give some of us betther exchange rate in future. 

[Expatthailover]

A man ( if a cowardly draft dodger can be called a man ) who has now fanned the flames even more in thr mid east and who some losers believe should be consider a nobel peace prize contestant. 

[ezzra]

2 hours ago, jcsmith said:

That's the thing about Trump. Against the advice of allies and many of his own advisers he just does what he wants to do. And he does so without properly researching the decisions he is making. He just doesn't care. He says something and he sticks to it pigheadedly even in the face of evidence which should give him pause. 

Or maybe he just grew tired from a madman and tyrants pointing an ICBM loaded with nukes at his country chanting ' death to America, death to the big satan' when those missiles will be pointed at the European and Russian, maybe they'll change their tune as well...

[jcsmith]

8 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Or maybe he just grew tired from a madman and tyrants pointing an ICBM loaded with nukes at his country chanting ' death to America, death to the big satan' when those missiles will be pointed at the European and Russian, maybe they'll change their tune as well...

Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, and even the Trump administration admits they have not violated the terms of the deal, which prevented them from furthering their progress. The deal he just opted out of prevented them from doing so. 

[Somtamnication]

Idiot. This guy is Israel's lackey. Shame on you, America.

[Kiwiken]

36 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Or maybe he just grew tired from a madman and tyrants pointing an ICBM loaded with nukes at his country chanting ' death to America, death to the big satan' when those missiles will be pointed at the European and Russian, maybe they'll change their tune as well...

What missiles, What Nukes. They cannot even hit Israel. oh Yeah WMD's just like Saddam had. BTW any of them been found Yet??????????

[Boon Mee]

Keeping another campaign promise to scuttle this very bad deal. 

Good move, DJT 

MAGA