Trump reportedly plans to 'decertify' Iran nuclear deal, putting agreement on life support *** haaretz.com
WASHINGTON
– U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to “decertify” the 2015 Iran
nuclear deal by announcing to Congress next week that the agreement is
not in the national interest of the United States, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
According
to the report, Trump's announcement will leave Congress with the
dilemma of whether or not to actually scrap the nuclear deal by
reimposing sanctions on Iran that were removed in 2015. If all 48
Democrats in the Senate vote against reimposing the sanctions, something
which at this point seems likely, it would require the opposition of
three Republican lawmakers to keep the nuclear deal alive.
If
Trump indeed decides to “decertify” the deal, but leaves it to Congress
to decide whether or not to place sanctions on the Islamic Republic,
the actual decision whether on not to put an end to the nuclear
agreement would be delayed. It is possible that in such a scenario there
will not be enough votes in the Senate, where republicans have a slim
four-member majority, for imposing new sanctions, and thus the nuclear
deal could be wounded, but not totally destroyed. Yet it is impossible
to predict what exactly the Senate will do, and it is possible that if
Trump chooses such a path, it would eventually lead to an American
withdrawal from the deal and its possible collapse.
In
recent days, a number of prominent critics of the 2015 deal and of the
Obama administration's wider policy on Iran have publicly stated that
despite their objections, they believe Trump should keep the U.S.
committed to the deal, as long as there is no clear evidence that Iran
has breached it. The most important statement was made on Tuesday by
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who said during a hearing in the Senate
that he believes it was in the national security interest of the U.S.
to maintain the deal. Mattis, a retired four-star general, is considered
hawkish when it comes to Iran, which is why his statement could be
significant if and when the debate moves on to Capitol Hill.
On
Wednesday, Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published a statement calling on
Trump to recertify that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal, unless
there is clear evidence to the contrary. Cardin was one of four
Democratic senators who voted against the nuclear deal in 2015. He is
also considered one of the strongest supporters of Israel within the
Democratic Party and recently sponsored a controversial piece of
legislation against boycotts of Israel and the settlements, known as the
"Israel Anti-Boycott Act."
Yet
in his statement on Wednedsay, Cardin warned that "leaving the [nuclear
deal] at this point, absent concrete facts and material determinations,
would isolate us from our allies and partners when we need them to
counter Iran’s destabilizing activities and deal with other pressing
global challenges, such as the North Korean nuclear crisis." He also
stated that Trump should announce a broad strategy pushing back against
Iran's regional aggression and punishing it for supporting terrorism and
developing ballistic missiles – but without destroying the nuclear
deal.
Another
strong supporter of Israel within the Democratic Party, Rep. Ted Deutch
of Florida, led a group of over 180 Democratic members of Congress who sent a letter to Trump on Wednesday morning,
urging him to recertify that Iran was in compliance. Deutch, like
Cardin, voted against the deal in 2015. Their position is at odds with
that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in recent weeks has been
consistently callling on the Trump administration to nix the nuclear
deal.
In
the letter spearheaded by Deutch, the Democratic members wrote: "Some
of us voted for, and some against, the nuclear agreement with Iran.
Nonetheless, we are united in our belief that enforcing this agreement
to the fullest extent will provide the United States with more leverage
to stop a potential Iranian nuclear weapons program and push back on
Iran's destabilizing activities."
The
members clarified that they "share concerns about Iran's activities in
the region, including its ballistic missile development, support for
proxies and terror groups, violations of the human rights of its
people, and backing of the Assad regime." They ended their letter by
calling on Trump to implement "vigorous enforcement" of the nuclear
deal.
Commenti
Posta un commento