Going rogue on Iran sanctions

Re “Iran defiant as U.S. restricts oil exports,” Nov. 6

Those who wonder just how far this country has migrated away from the rule of law need only to consider the Iran nuclear agreement.

This is an international agreement that was codified in a United Nations Security Council resolution. As such, it has the status of international law.

Curiously, there hasn’t even been much of a discussion in the U.S. media about the legal implications of our unilateral violation of international law by virtue of President Trump’s rejection of the agreement.

Worse, there has been no discussion of the legal basis for our imposition of sanctions on Iran. Iran has not violated the agreement except in the mind of our president.

The rule of law is our bulwark against the tyranny of one-man rule. Unfortunately, it is not self-executing. It depends on the vigilance of people who care about the rule of law while they witness our descent into autocracy.

Siegfried Othmer

Woodland Hills

If Trump were honest, he would make clear that he calls the Iran nuclear deal “defective at its core” not because of Iran, but because it was President Obama’s deal.

At a deeper level, this shows the weakness of the U.S. Senate, which is so riven by partisanship that the possibility of any treaty being ratified by a twothirds majority is nonexistent. This further weakens the division of powers and checks and balances at the foundation of our republic.

I still believe that the agreement that the Obama administration negotiated with Iran was and is good in itself. However, the former president and the Senate were wrong to evade handling this as a treaty.

Bob Wieting

Simi Valley