Trump Headed Toward Abandoning Iran Nuclear Deal?

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Signs indicate he's likely heading in this direction, maybe later this month.

He and administration officials seized on (foreign-orchestrated) anti-government protests to use as a convenient pretext.

Deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah said "(t)he Trump administration is contemplating further action to support the Iranian people" - by harming them more than already, he failed to explain.

Trump's concern for human rights doesn't extend beyond himself, his family, and privileged interests supporting his appalling agenda.

Mike Pence blasted Obama for agreeing to the nuclear deal, deplorably saying "(w)e looked to the White House in those days in 2009. We looked for American leadership, and there was none," adding:

"(T)he last administration not only was silent when the good and courageous people of Iran were rising up for democracy, but they also pushed forward and embraced the disastrous Iran nuclear deal that President Trump refused to recertify and we're continuing to provide leadership on."

The "people of Iran" want Washington keeping its dirty hands off their country, public sentiment strongly hostile to US interference and aggression.

On Thursday, the Treasury Department imposed more illegal sanctions on Iran, targeting five entities linked to its entirely legal ballistic missile program - using the pretext of likely CIA/Mossad orchestrated street protests and violence, including use of hired assassins (terrorists) to kill over 20 Iranians.

Newly imposed sanctions affect five subsidiaries of Iran's Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, involved in developing and producing missiles, prohibiting Americans from dealing with the company, intimidating other countries to hesitate doing business with Iran.

In announcing the new sanctions, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin lied, claiming Iran's government and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "fund foreign militants, terrorist groups and (commit) human rights abuses" - longstanding US practices, not Tehran's.

Trump must decide every 90 days whether or not to certify the JCPOA nuclear deal - decertifying it in October, virtually certain to do it again by mid-January or sooner.

He must also decide whether to waive US nuclear-related sanctions prohibited under the deal or reimpose them.

Reimposition would constitute a grave JCPOA breach, effectively abandoning the international agreement. 

P5+1 countries Britain, France and Germany may refrain from allying with Russia and China against the hostile move, other than by expressing weak-kneed rhetorical displeasure.

Orchestrated protests and violence in Iranian cities will likely be used as a pretext for follow-up US hostile actions against Iran.

Trump pulling out of the nuclear deal along with reimposition of nuclear-related sanctions may be step one - other harshness likely to follow.

Does he intend waging war on Iran in the new year? His rage to topple its government leaves no options off the table.

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