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President Trump's national security adviser, H.R.
McMaster, said on Sunday that the president's threat to cancel the
multinational Iran deal laid out a marker for U.S. allies and Iran to
fix the "weak" deal. "What the president has
done is, he has set out a marker, a marker to Iran, our allies and
our partners that we have to fix fundamental flaws in this
deal," McMaster said on "Fox News Sunday."
President Trump on Friday officially disavowed the
international nuclear deal with Iran, undermining but not terminating
an agreement he called weak and poorly constructed. The
administration asked Congress to attach new caveats that could either
alter the pact or lead to its rupture. Sounding frustrated and angry,
Trump also threatened to unilaterally withdraw from the seven-nation
accord if his concerns are not met.
President Trump announced on Friday his decision to
disavow the Iran nuclear agreement, threatening to leave the deal
altogether if it was not amended to permanently block Tehran from
building nuclear weapons or intercontinental missiles. But even as he
delivered a fire-breathing indictment of the Iranian government's
activities around the Middle East, he stopped short of unraveling the
agreement reached by President Barack Obama two years ago.
UANI IN THE NEWS
"This should be a wake-up call call to both
businesses and to our allies and other countries that it can't be
business as usual with Iran, regardless of what you think about the
Iran nuclear deal," said Mark Wallace, CEO of United Against
Nuclear Iran and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
'United Against Nuclear Iran' chairman Joe Lieberman
joins FNC's Maria Bartiromo to discuss the president's choice to
leave the Iran nuclear deal up to Congress and the extent to which
North Korea and Iran are working together. "I think the
president made the right decision, he did it in the right way,"
the former Democratic vice presidential candidate said. "He
could have withdrawn from the whole thing the other day."
This is one of the really important things that
President Trump did on Friday, and Friday was an important day. Some
say oh, he kicked it over to Congress. No, he took what had been
statements before, made it official American Policy, and said fix
this or I'm going to withdraw it, and he has an absolute right in my
opinion as commander-in-chief to withdraw from the Iran nuclear
agreement, because it's not even an agreement. It wasn't a contract
both parties signed. It wasn't a treaty that Congress, the Senate,
ratified. It was sort of simultaneous diplomatic promises.
As Abba Eban observed, "Men and nations behave
wisely when they have exhausted all other resources." So it goes
with America and the Iran deal. President Trump announced Friday that
the U.S. would stay in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, even
while he refused to certify under U.S. law that the deal is in the
national interest. "Decertification," a bright, shiny
object for many, obscures the real issue-whether the agreement should
survive. Mr. Trump has "scotch'd the snake, not kill'd
it."
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
The Trump administration will remain in the
international nuclear deal with Iran for now, top national security
aides said Sunday, a message of reassurance after allies, members of
Congress and the Iranian regime criticized President Trump's decision
to set conditions on further U.S. participation. Trump's national
security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said that the president's threat to
cancel the Iran deal "set out a marker" for the United
States and its allies to fix what he called "a weak deal that is
being weakly monitored."
US Ambassador to the United Nations on Sunday said the
Trump administration hopes to remain in the nuclear deal with Iran
but strengthen it so the "American people feel safer. I think
right now you are going to see us stay in the deal," Haley said
on NBC's "Meet The Press."
U.S. President Donald Trump angered Iran with his speech
on refusing to re-certify the nuclear deal, but Tehran is unlikely to
walk away from the agreement in retaliation. Brinksmanship aside,
Iran needs to sell its oil on the international market as allowed by
the atomic accord. And politically, Trump's speech helps the same
hard-liners America's president says he wants to target, offering
them a convenient punching bag as many Iranians took his words as a
personal insult.
Donald Trump announced Friday that he won't
"certify" his predecessor's nuclear deal with Iran, but he
won't walk away from it either. This is something of a political
fudge to satisfy a campaign promise, but it is also part of a larger
and welcome strategic shift from Barack Obama's illusions about arms
control and the Islamic Republic. Mr. Trump chose not to withdraw
from the nuclear deal despite his ferocious criticism during the
campaign and again on Friday.
On Friday, the Trump administration announced that it
will not certify the nuclear deal that Barack Obama's government
struck with Iran and other world powers. Critics claim the decision
could isolate the United States from its allies, set Iran sprinting
toward nuclear weapons, and increase the likelihood of military
conflict. Supporters argue that the move is the best way to block
Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Skeptics dismiss the act as mere
political posturing-a way for Trump to appear to honor his campaign
promises while kicking the can to Congress and ultimately sticking
with the agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised
President Trump's choice to decertify the Iran nuclear deal as
"the right decision for the world." Netanyahu, the chief opponent
of the Obama-era accord, said Trump's move Friday could bring allies
to the table to improve the "bad" deal.
Iran, Russia and European leaders roundly condemned
President Trump's decision on Friday to disavow the Iran nuclear
deal, saying that it reflected the growing isolation of the United
States, threatened to destabilize the Middle East and could make it
harder to resolve the growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The
reaction was far from panicked, as Mr. Trump's decision punts to
Congress the critical decision of whether the United States will
reimpose sanctions on Iran - a step that would effectively sink the
deal.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
The Treasury Department on Friday slapped sanctions on
an elite Iranian military organization, part of its broader strategy
to ramp up pressure on Tehran. The announcement came after President
Donald Trump started a campaign to "fix" the 2015 Iran
nuclear deal, telling Congress the agreement is no longer in the
United States' interests.
President Donald Trump on Friday accused Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting terrorism. But in what
amounted to a pulled punch, he stopped short of formally branding the
notorious military unit a terrorist group. "The Revolutionary
Guard is the Iranian supreme leader's corrupt personal terror force
and militia," Trump said in an address outlining his wider Iran
strategy. "It has hijacked large portions of Iran's economy and
seized massive religious endowments to fund war and terror
abroad."
CONGRESS & IRAN
A pair of Republican senators unveiled a plan Friday to
sanction Iran if the regime gets close to constructing a nuclear
weapon, as part of a President Trump's broader effort to counter
Iranian aggression. Under the proposal, Iran would face
"automatic" economic sanctions if it builds up its nuclear
program to the point of being within one year of having a bomb. The
plan was developed by Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker,
R-Tenn., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of the arch critics of the
Iran deal. The one-year time frame is designed to ensure that Iran
doesn't get so close to having a nuclear weapon that the United
States can't take action to prevent it.
After Donald Trump placed the fate of the Iran nuclear
deal in the hands of lawmakers Friday, Congress may use its position
as arbiter to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. The question is whether
they can do so without killing off the 2015 accord.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will
decertify the Iran nuclear deal but will not urge Congress to
immediately reimpose nuclear-related sanctions on the country,
instead calling for new legislation that could trigger penalties down
the line. He also unveiled other initiatives aimed at reining in the
longtime U.S. nemesis, including plans for new sanctions on Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard military corps over allegations that it
supports terrorism.
Republicans demanded a major say on the Iran nuclear
agreement two years ago and never got it from Democrat Barack Obama.
Now that President Donald Trump has directed Congress to make the
international pact more stringent, the GOP is finding that having
that voice won't be easy. Republicans will have to win over skeptical
Democrats and key allies in Europe who are wary of altering the
accord that they believe has prevented Iran from assembling an
arsenal of atomic weapons in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
Republican leaders also may face resistance from members of their own
party.
BUSINESS RISK
Western firms have piled into Iran in the two years
since world powers agreed to lift sanctions. Now, as President Donald
Trump deals a blow to that deal, executives must decide whether to
stay the course. Mr. Trump said Friday he won't recertify the 2015
international deal struck with Tehran, which lifted sanctions in
exchange for promises by Iran to curtail its nuclear program. He also
vowed to cancel the deal himself if Congress and U.S. allies don't
act to address his concerns about the accord.
In the 21 months since a landmark nuclear agreement
freed Iran's economy from crippling economic sanctions, investors
eager to tap the country's energy reserves and its 80 million
consumers have waited for signs it was safe to enter the market in
full force.
President Donald Trump's decision to overhaul America's
policy with Iran raises a lot of questions for companies that have
been trying to make inroads to do business in Iran. The Trump
administration on Friday laid out a new Iran strategy in an effort to
"strengthen" the 2015 nuclear deal. The Iran deal lifted
sanctions on the country in exchange for limits on Tehran's nuclear
program. Its enactment in early 2016 reopened the country's stock and
bond markets; its channels for exports like crude oil, pistachios and
carpets; and the process for large companies to apply to do business
there.
The Trump administration asked a Chicago federal court
Thursday for a two-month deadline extension on its decision assessing
whether revealing secret details of a $17 billion commercial aircraft
deal between Iran and Boeing would interfere with US foreign policy
by obstructing a key component of the Iranian nuclear deal. Filed
just one day before President Donald Trump is expected to announce
plans to decertify the Iran nuclear deal, the Department of Justice
request aims to push Thursday's original court-ordered deadline to
January.
President Donald Trump's decision not to re-impose
sanctions against Iran is good news for Boeing and its European
rival, Airbus, which can continue doing business with Iranian
airlines that are desperate for new planes. Between them, Boeing and
Airbus have announced deals with Iranian airlines that, if finalized,
could cover nearly 300 planes worth $40 billion.
NORTH KOREA & IRAN
United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said Sunday that
President Trump's recent move on Iran "sends the perfect message
to North Korea." "It sends the perfect message to North
Korea, which is we're not going to engage in a bad deal. And should
we ever get into a deal, we're going to hold you accountable,"
Haley told ABC's "This Week."
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
US President Donald Trump may be about to declare that
Iran is no longer in compliance with the international nuclear
agreement, but the country is on a roll across the Middle East. Iran
has great influence in Iraq and Syria, strong relations with Russia
and Turkey and its arch-rival, Saudi Arabia, is undergoing a
difficult generational transition. Iran had dug deep into its pockets
to support the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria long before
sanctions were eased as part of the 2015 nuclear deal. Militias
trained and armed by Iran's Quds force have played a pivotal role in
the fighting against rebel factions, especially around Aleppo.
Weapons and cash have also flowed from Tehran to Damascus.
CYBERWARFARE
Iran carried out a cyber attack on British lawmakers
earlier this year, The Times newspaper reported on Saturday, citing
an intelligence assessment of the incident. The report came the day
after Britain joined other European countries in warning the United
States against harming a nuclear deal with Iran. Britain's parliament
was hit by a "sustained and determined" cyber attack in
June, designed to identify weak email passwords, just over a month
after a ransomware worm crippled parts of the country's health
service. The Times said that the attack was Iran's first
significant cyber attack on a British target after the hack was
initially blamed on Russia... While the motive for the attack has not
yet been established, the hackers were not seeking simple financial
profit, The Times said.
IRAQ CRISIS
Iraqi forces said Monday they seized a military base, an
oil field and other key infrastructure from Kurdish soldiers near the
northern city of Kirkuk, as the two U.S. allies face off over
territory and oil in the wake of the Kurdish region's independence
vote last month... The flare-up presents an awkward dilemma for the
United States. Washington has trained and equipped the advancing
Iraqi troops and the Kurdish forces, known as peshmerga, on the other
side. The Iraqi side is also backed up by Shiite militia forces close
to Iran - at a time when the Trump administration has boost rhetoric
about trying to curb Iranian influence in the region, including
increasing sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps last
week.
Iran on Sunday shut its border crossings with Iraq's
Kurdistan in support of measures taken by the Iraqi government to
isolate the Kurdish region, the Iraqi foreign ministry said. "At
the request of the Iraqi government, the Islamic Republic of Iran
closed today the border crossings with the Kurdistan region of
Iraq,'' the Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement in Baghdad.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram
Qassemi had indirectly dismissed claims these crossings were shut.
''As far as I know, nothing new has happened in this area,'' the
Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quoted him as saying.
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday denied reports that
Tehran had closed a border crossing with northern Iraq in response to
an independence referendum in Iraq's Kurdish region last month, the
Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported. "As we announced
earlier, we blocked our airspace to the Kurdish region on a request
from the central government of Iraq, and as far as I know, nothing
new has happened in this area," ISNA quoted Foreign Ministry
spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying.
GULF STATES & IRAN
Arab countries welcomed US president Donald Trump's
speech to confront the "fanatical regime" of Iran, during
which he threw a landmark international nuclear agreement into doubt.
Meanwhile, leaders in western countries said they were
"concerned by the possible implications" of Mr Trump's
decision not to recertify Iran's compliance with the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action to Congress.
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