Top European Union officials say they “deeply regret” President Trump’s move Monday to start reimposing nuclear sanctions on Iran. The officials also have promised to block the US sanctions and preserve the deal.
A joint statement offered by the various top-ranking foreign policy officials in the EU, the Foreign Ministers of the three P5+1 parties and the EU chief Federica Mogherini, says they will maintain effective financial channels for Iran and ensure that they can keep exporting oil and gas.
The statement further says that the preservation of the nuclear deal is both about respecting international agreement and is “a matter of international security.” The US is threatening ‘severe consequences’ for those who don’t abide by their sanctions.
This is setting the stage for a big battle of wills between the US and the European Union. In the past, the EU was able to block enforcement of US sanctions on Cuba, and the strategy is likely to be similar with Iran. The Trump Administration, however, seems disinclined to reach any deal with the EU.
Still, the EU is clearly not alone in this, and there is no sign any of the remaining P5+1 deal signatories are going along with US demands. China has already ruled out halting oil buys, for instance. The US ability to force big powers to go along with unilateral sanctions is very much being tested.
There is an adage that says: “Those who don’t know history repeat the
errors of the past!” Donald Trump is a “hotel business historian,” and
clueless of political history. In 1953 the Iranian politician Mohamed
Mossadegh was elected president with an anti-imperialist agenda – like
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini was in 1979. The U.S. and Great
Britain in 1953 paid the Iranian Wresting Federation to have about
1000 bare-breasted wrestlers demonstrate against Mossadegh, and had
paid the Iranian General Zahedi to follow the wrestlers and arrest and
overthrow Mossadegh as an act of popular demand. The U.S. and Great
Britain then ordered Zahedi to accept the Shah, Reza Pahlavi as the new
leader of Iran. The Shah ruled brutally, and stole most of Iran’s oil
money stashing $ trillions in U.S. and European banks – until his
overthrow in 1979. The Shah’s son, Reza Pahlevi, junior, live in
Bethesda, MD, close to the CIA, and ready to return to Iran and rule
like his father – if the CIA ever managed to overthrow the Ayatollah’s
in Iran. The Ayatollah’s regime, however, is as solid as rock, and not
only it has developed its own weapons industry, but it also has a close
military development and co-operation with Russia. Iran now is a
regional power with massive influence and military allies on Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen! Trump is clueless about Iran’s military
capabilities as he is about North Korea. Why is Trump making a fool of
himself about destroying North Korea and Iran if they don’t take U.S.
orders? Because he listen to his warmongering adviser John Bolton, an
utter ignoramus of global wars history. Trump can trumpet Bolton’s
imbecile war threats on other states, but he won’t scare anybody. He is
just making a fool of himself. The fact that Europe, China, India,
Iran and North Korea don’t take those threat seriously says it all.
Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, some British politicians laughed at such
war threats saying: “We take them seriously, like scotch-in- the
rocks!” I don’t take Donald Trump seriously!
Nikos Retsos, retired professor, Chicago, USA