TRUMP QUITS IRAN N-DEAL
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the US withdrawal from what he called the “defective” multinational nuclear deal with Iran, and said Washington would reinstate sanctions against the Islamic republic. “The Iran deal is defective at its core,” Trump said from the White House. “I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.”
He called Tehran the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, and decried its influence in the Middle East. Trump’s announcement dealt a profound blow to US allies and potentially deepened the president’s isolation on the world stage. “The United States does not make empty threats,” he said in a televised address.
Trump’s decision means Iran must now decide whether to follow the US and withdraw or try to salvage what’s left of the deal. Iran has offered conflicting statements about what it may do — and the answer may depend on exactly how Trump exits the agreement.
TEHRAN — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani staked his legacy on efforts to end decades of tension with the West. With the landmark nuclear deal unravelling, what hope is there for his political future?
Regardless of whether US President Donald Trump tears up the 2015 nuclear deal that was the centrepiece of Rouhani’s diplomatic efforts, it is clear that the traditional animosity between the US and Iran has returned for the foreseeable future.
“Rouhani bet big on the nuclear deal and invested all his political capital in it,” said Mojtaba Mousavi, a political analyst in Tehran.
“Now the deal is gasping its last breaths, and so Rouhani is losing everything — all his economic and political plans — that he built on the back of the nuclear deal,” Mousavi told AFP. From the start, Rouhani’s conservative opponents were deeply suspicious of his negotiations with Washington, and their fears were borne out when it became clear that US pressure would continue to hobble Iran’s trade ties even after the 2015 deal.
With his constant threats to tear up the accord, Trump has ensured the world stays wary of doing business with Iran.
“The uncertainty around the JCPOA (nuclear deal) is a victory for the conservatives who feed off the hostility of US foreign policy to
The uncertainty around the nuclear deal is a victory for the conservatives who feed off the hostility of US foreign policy to reinforce internal repression and limit the reach of the Islamic republic’s elected institutions Clement Therme, An Iran expert
reinforce internal repression and limit the reach of the Islamic republic’s elected institutions,” said Clement Therme, an Iran expert with Britain’s International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Behind-the-scenes conservative forces have made their presence felt in recent months, with sweeping arrests of dual nationals and NGO workers on espionage charges, the blocking of Iran’s most popular social media app Telegram, and pressure on high-profile reformers that forced the resignation of Tehran’s mayor and a top environmental official.
Rouhani has overseen a moderate easing of social restrictions, but in Iran the presidency is only one of many power centres.
He faces powerful conservative forces embedded in the clergy, the judiciary and a Guardian Council with veto power over laws and election candidates, not to mention the over-riding authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Rouhani has totally flunked on all his promises, but he has doubled down on the reform rhetoric recently, trying to maintain his popular base and fingerpointing at the conservatives,” said Ardavan Amir Aslani, an author and international lawyer with an office in Tehran. “But opening a few new cafes and letting women push their headscarves back a few inches are not the fundamental reforms that Iran needs,” he added.
What may save Rouhani from being completely sidelined is the establishment’s fear of a greater unravelling. Protests in December and January showed that anger over the economy and civil liberties was much wider spread than in the past, affecting dozens of second-tier towns and cities. “I think the leader (Khamenei) is still trying to help Rouhani. Protecting the prosperity and unity of the country is his top priority, especially in this tough situation,” said Mousavi.
Rouhani won a second term as president a year ago, with the backing of reformists who saw him as the best option from the small selection allowed to stand by the Guardian Council.