After meeting with President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron says that he is confident that Trump won’t stand by the Iran nuclear deal, termed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Trump made a commitment to scrap the deal throughout his campaign, and Macron thinks that Trump is going to stick to his guns and press for a renegotiation, which Macron wants to broker. RT reports:
French President Emmanuel Macron believes US President Donald Trump is leaning towards getting the US out of the Iran nuclear deal. The US leader is not ready to go back on his pre-election promise, Macron told media.
“Just like you do, I listen to what President Trump is saying, and it seems to me that he is not very much eager to defend [the Iran nuclear deal]… I have in mind that it is his campaign commitment that he made a long time ago. So I do not know what the American decision will be, but if you take a rational look at the announcements and the comments made by President Trump, it seems to me that he will not do his utmost to preserve the JCPOA,” Macron said during a press conference at the George Washington University at the end of his three-day trip to the US.
Macron, in an effort to keep Iran on the string, thinks that he can renegotiate the nuclear deal such that Trump will stay on board and the Iranians will continue to hold back on nuclear development plans, as well as restrict their missile program and involvement in Syria.
Such an approach demands even more compromises and concessions from the Iranian government, but without expanding on the benefits offered by taking on even more restrictions.
Meanwhile, Trump has been filling his cabinet with hostile war hawks who want to ‘bomb Iran’ into submission, thus, with America thinking that it is going to apply pressure to Iran and threaten to blow it to smithereens is simply a misguided approach that will do nothing more than show to the world, and Kim Jong Un, that the US doesn’t stand by its commitments, and that your safety, and apparently sanctions relief, is not guaranteed if you sign on the bottom line a deal with the Americans.
In addition to introducing a couple of more pillars to be included in a new Trump-friendly draft of the JCPOA, Macron didn’t miss the opportunity to brown nose Trump for his ‘deal making skills’, attributing North Korea’s motion towards peace to Trump‘s irresistible artistry in deal making.
Macron also reiterated his plan to expand the nuclear deal with Iran to include provisions for restraining Tehran’s influence in the Middle East. He called the JCPOA, under which Iran agreed to abandon its nuclear program and which is set to expire in 2025 if it does not fall apart before that, just one of four “pillars.” The others include forcing Iran to also abandon its ballistic missile development and containing its influence in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. In return, the Western powers will not reintroduce economic sanctions against Tehran.
The fact that he appears to be unable to change Trump’s mind on the deal, which has been hanging in the balance for over a year, does not mean that the trip was a failure, Macron said, noting that his goal was to push for a new, much broader agreement that would include Iran and the US.
“I want to be the honest broker of the situation,” Macron said.
He went on to praise the US president’s deal-making skills, saying what he called the US’ “strategy of increasing tension” with Iran can bear fruit.
“His experience with North Korea is that when you are very tough, you make the other side move and you can try to go to a good deal or a better deal,” Macron said, calling Trump a “dealmaker.”
Meanwhile, it was Macron who alleged that he had ‘proof’ that Assad conducted a chemical weapons attack on Douma, and who joined Trump on an illegal military strike against the city of Damascus, showing that Macron has as little respect for international law and fact finding as the Americans do, who are ready to bomb and kill at a moment’s notice whenever it suits their ‘interests’.
Hence, why would Iran have any confidence in a newly negotiated version of the JCPOA, when France is also supposed to abide by UN legislation on the use of force, and just totally disregarded it in dropping some bombs on Syria?
Macron said he had ‘proof’ of Assad’s guilt, and yet refused to put it on display even in justifying his military decision, so that whatever it is that has so convinced Macron that he was justified in joining Trump on his ‘precision strike’ (maybe it was a tweet) will remain in the shadows… even though it still doesn’t justify breaking international law and his illegal use of force.
Therefore, why would the Iranians trust Macron to ‘be the honest broker of the situation’?
Meanwhile, Tehran insists that it will only abide by the JCPOA nuclear deal under its present iteration, and that it will not sign on to something that increases Iran’s burden in order to obtain the same benefits.
The deal was the Iran cuts back on the nuclear development program in exchange for economic sanctions relief, and now the Americans are saying that’s not good enough, after they committed to the deal saying that it was? What kind of commitment is that?
Additionally, not only is an increase of obligation considered, it doesn’t present any sort of additional enticement for the Iranians to accept it, as it ponders nothing new in the way of benefits for Iran. Not only this, but if Iran doesn’t sign onto this new revision, and the deal is scuttled, then not only does Iran get to move forward with its nuclear program, but it is also set to get assistance with it from China, another country that the US posture considers a threat, and promises to advance with the program faster than ever before.
Hence, Trump’s pressure routine isn’t something that necessarily produces results, since drawing a hard line produces one of only two outcomes: they either capitulate and you win whatever you wanted, because they feel like they have to move because you won’t, or else they can just walk away, feeling secure enough in their own position, which is what it looks like will happen if Trump takes this approach. We’re presently watching how this strategy is playing out with the trade war that is continuing to escalate with China, who is only upping the ante each time America draws a fresh line in the sand, demanding capitulation.
Therefore, in the lead up to a meeting with North Korean President Kim Jong Un, America showing that it won’t stand by its sanctions relief agreements in response to a throttled nuclear program, demonstrates that Pyongyang might expect to get the same treatment, especially with Trump playing the same card in both cases. If Kim doesn’t notice this, then he has apparently had his head in the sand for too long, as it appears that the only credit to be given for putting his arms down and achieving any real security on the Korean peninsula will apparently have to be guaranteed by the Russians or Chinese, or both, based on the present political atmosphere.
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