Earlier this week, reports were raised by Iranian Foreign Minister that a new nuclear agreement with the US was possible, and that it would include Iran accepting once-voluntary limitations on its civilian nuclear program.
On Wednesday, Iranian officials wanted to be clear that this proposal
wasn’t for Iran to make a bunch of concessions for free, and that if the
US wanted a deal above and beyond the P5+1 deal, they’d have to “pay more” to get it.
That likely marks the end of this proposal, as the US hasn’t been
willing to pay at all, even for things agreed to under the existing
deal, and they’ve always conditioned the demands on Iran as ultimatums,
as opposed to offers for exchange.
This is probably bad news for the survival of the existing deal, as even
though it’s still on the table the US isn’t coming back to it.
Moreover, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters that
it is “becoming increasingly difficult” for Europe to remain committed to the deal.
The biggest obstacle to the deal’s survival is that the US has blocked
sanctions relief, particularly from EU companies, and the EU has yet to
ensure its companies are free to do business under the terms of the
pact. Mogherini, however, faulted Iran’s reversible measures to increase
their civilian program’s scope, which Iran has been very public about
only doing to try to kickstart negotiations on the sanctions relief they
were promised but never received.
The biggest obstacle to the survival of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) is actually the gutlessness of the European partners and the UN itself to stand up to the illegal sanctions of the USA against a legal international agreement!
Even the notion of “pay more” is problematic. The Trump admin has often framed allowing Iran to access their own money in accounts we unilaterally and inappropriately froze as giving them money. The US has paid nothing and intends to pay nothing, except for military solutions which we are always eager to write a blank check for.
“Every step that has been taken so far by Iran is reversible and we call on Iran to reverse these decisions and go back to full compliance,” Mogherini said. “I hope that rationality will prevail.”
Tell that to the country, or should I say the idiot, that is responsible for the entire mess.
It’s a two-way deal not One Way!
That quote is particularly telling because it shows the EU never actually intended to save the deal. They knew Iran would start reversing the deal – as is allowed by the deal itself – once the US left. So they knew they could use that to tar and feather Iran, albeit less so than Trump has done (because the Europeans aren’t as bombastic as Trump.)
They started saying almost immediately that Iran was “not in compliance” even though Iran has been in full compliance with the terms of the deal, even when Iran started saving more enriched uranium. Iran was allowed by the deal to withdraw “in whole or in part” once the US reneged on it. So “compliance” was not the issue. But it *was* the way the EU decided to refer to Iran’s actions, emphasizing them as opposed to the US withdrawal.
So everything the EU has done so far was just a PR move to avoid being blamed for the upcoming war. Once the war starts, NATO will pile on Iran with the US, claiming that it’s “necessary” to “prevent Iran from destabilizing the Middle East.”
The EU is a bunch of hypocrites and cowards.
As I’ve said for the last year, the JCPOA is dead as a door nail.
Nothing to see here. Move along – to the upcoming Iran war.