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Eurasia
January 19, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
Trump agrees “last chance” waiver to preserve Iran nuclear deal
bne IntelliNews
Donald Trump has again backed away from taking action that would in all likelihood destroy the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran. In a January 12 statement issued by the White House, he said he was providing a final chance for the accord’s signatories to fix the agreement’s “terrible flaws”.
After agreeing to sign a waiver suspending heavy US sanctions on Iran for another 120 days, he added in his statement: "This is a last chance.
In the absence of such an agreement [to fix the flaws], the United States will not again waive sanctions in order to stay in the Iran nuclear deal. And if at any time I judge that such an agreement is not within reach, I will withdraw from the deal immediately."
The clock is thus now ticking down on the next nuclear deal deadline before which Washington, the UK, Russia, France, China, and Germany
are under pressure to negotiate accord changes with Tehran which would, for instance, make restrictions on Iran’s uranium enrichment – designed to thwart any attempt at making a nuclear weapon – permanent. Under a ‘sunset clause’ in the deal, they are currently set to expire in 2025.
Responding to Trump’s announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "Trump's policy & today's announcement amount to desperate attempts to undermine a solid mul- tilateral agreement." Tehran has previously said it will "shred" the deal if the Americans pull out.
Trump’s position on the deal, agreed in Vienna
in late 2015 and formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a rather lonely one – not one of the other major power signatories says Iran has breached what they see as an effective and sound agreement and even the American president’s own secretary of state and defence secretary have stated that they want continued US participation in the deal. Some critics believe Trump has dug himself into a hole and is now struggling to save face. He
has variously described the JCPOA signed by his predecessor Barack Obama as “the worst deal ever”, “horrible”, “laughable”, “disastrous” and as “an embarrassment to America”, but he has nevertheless now recertified the accord twice.
Trump also wants to work with European partners to draw up an agreement limiting Iran's ballistic missiles activities and he is asking
the US Congress – which has rather sat on
its hands since last October Trump gave senators and representatives a chance to take a hardline stance towards Iran on the JCPOA – to amend
a law on US participation in the nuclear deal. Proposed changes would enable Washington to reimpose all sanctions if Iran was seen to breach certain "trigger points".
The US currently retains some sanctions against Tehran in relation to its ballistic missile activities, human rights issues and alleged roles in backing terrorism and, in tandem with Trump’s “last chance waiver” announcement, Washington