US sticks to Iran deal despite Trump’s rhetoric
The Trump administration may not dump the Iran deal as the president had promised as a candidate but, in a move India will be tracking closely, it will enforce it more strictly in letter and spirit and hold Tehran accountable for its “malign behaviour”.
The administration is working on a “strategy that will address the totality” of Iran’s actions, which will not be focussed narrowly on the implementation by Teheran of its end of the nuclear deal, a senior Trump administration official said on Monday.
The term “malign behaviour/ activity” was used for Iran’s purported support of terrorism and proliferation, hostility to Israel, support of the Syrian regime and the “arbitrary detention of foreigners” including Americans.
As a result, the official said, the administration believed Iran had undermined the “intent” of the deal, which was to promote peace in the region and outside, and it was “unquestionably in default of the spirit of the” deal.
New Delhi will be watching closely for signs of the resumption of the sanctions that the Obama administration had deployed against Tehran and which had compelled India to drastically cut its crude oil imports from Iran, a long-time supplier and ally. It will also be worried about the potential impact of renewed US-Iran hostilities on its plans for co-development of Chabahar port in Iran that is key to India’s push for stra- tegic and trade links into landlocked Afghanistan and beyond.
Under an agreement signed with Teheran in 2016, a year after the Iran deal, India is contracted to develop parts of the port but has faced problems finding suppliers for the machinery and equipment, specially from western manufacturers anxious about sanctions from the Trump administration, in line with the president’s poll promises.For now though, the Trump administration appears prepared to stay with the deal as it gave congress the executive branch’s ertification of Teheran’s adherence of its end of the deal as required by law instead of rescinding.