President Trump has demanded the reimposition of ‘snapback’ sanctions on Iran as part of the P5+1 nuclear deal, and revealed the US will go to the UN Security Council on Thursday to demand full imposition of all those sanctions without objection.
Within the nuclear deal, there is a clause that allows the US to snapback all sanctions if they believe Iran is failing in the deal. The clause also says no members of the deal can veto the measure. This is the plan the US is resting on.
And yet President Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018, and had failed to live up to requirements before then. This raises serious doubts that the US can impose ‘snapback’ under the terms of a deal that they are no longer party to, or whether nations like China and Russia would be compelled not to veto it.
The Trump Administration has argued that because the United States was party to the deal once, they’re still sort of in the deal now, and can therefore take advantage of any rights they’d had then, even if they long ago left the deal.
This interpretation suggests that the US never really had to comply with the deal in the first place, and once it got its name in the original text it had immutable rights, even acting in bad faith.
This have your cake and eat it too position certainly is in keeping with administration claims about the way things work, but after failing to get their way at the UN on an arms embargo, which failed long before anyone would’ve had to veto it, they could be coasting to another embarrassing defeat on Thursday.
amerikan hyprocrites and lies,,,”amerikans have been liars and braggarts for 3 centuries”. Daniel Boorstin
Monster is a suitable label.
And now they are pirates as well, seizing oil intended for Venezuela and diverting it to Houston. Thieves and gangsters.
If the World lets the USA get away with this ridiculous twisting of Justice, Decency and Fair Dealings – then they might as well scrap the UN and ALL other agencies set up to negotiate between Nations on our Planet,
It is time for the Nations of the World especially THE EUROPEAN Nations- France, Germany and The UK with Russia and China to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH , Let the US stew in the foul brew that it created.
The Pompman certainly seems to be risking any good or effective reputation he once, or may have had. If things had gone according to his/ U.S.’s plan, he would not be hitting his head against the brick wall that precipitated due to US./Pompeo’s actions on Iran. The Europeans are tired of their one note tunes. My deos, they got nobody but the D.R. last time out. What has changed that’s gona charm anyone in the no & abstain critical mass to redeem the clueless head banger Pompeo??
I wonder what odds the London bookies are giving to those who believe the Pomp Man will suceed?
Idiots Trump and Pompeo are like a divorced husband who still wants to control his ex wife. I hope the Trump nightmare will be over in January 2021 for the sake of the entire world. Please vote and vote for Biden.
There are only two places that Iran could get weapons anyway, Russia and China. If they decide to sell, then they’ll sell.
If they decide the US is cheating and the actions are in bad faith, they will feel free to ignore what the US says it has “done.”
Trump and Pompeo can’t demand anything from the Security Council…
your goose is cooked now, fat Mikey, after you withdrew from the deal, you have no legitimate authority or say so… or rights to demand anything
now f*ck off.
I like your style Michael.. Keep it coming!
The JCPOA appears structured as a cash grab for the EU of Iranian assets frozen in American banks. It was never a good deal for America to let that go for nothing.
Iran would never spend any more than it had to on American goods and services.
The Euros aren’t inclined to forget who scuttled that, but some Americans are tired of being pawns of European Western imperialism, even if there’s a divide between the isolationist patriots and nationalist imperialists.
Sooner or later though, the dam must break. Iran is simply too valuable and the global economy too broke to ignore free, open and legal trade with Iran.
Didn’t Obama return the Iranian money that was frozen in US banks when Iran signed the JCPOA?
If you’re referring to Obama’s massive US$ 1.7 billion cash transfer to Iran, not exactly. Also, the U.S. is calling dibs on up to $50 billion to compensate victims of Iranian terrorism.
The directly JCPOA-linked money remaining stateside appears to still be frozen; there’s US$ 2 billion held by Citibank in New York owed to the Iranian Central Bank, and there may be more caches in the U.S. not publicized by either Iran or the U.S..
The Shah’s Iran put $400 million in escrow with the Pentagon for weapons purchases, but then the Islamic Revolution happened and that money was frozen. Iran naturally contested that, and the timing of the returned cash suggests a combination goodwill gesture and incentive for Iran to sign the JCPOA.
Obama gave back the principle (US$ 400 million) with interest (US$ 1.3 billion). He got a deal on the interest owed, depending on whether or not one believes any interest was owed.
The money had to be delivered in cash because the sanctions regime could not be lifted and was very thorough. The money had to be converted from U.S. dollars into Euros, Swiss Francs, and a few other currencies, which probably set off a few de-dollarization alarms.
Iran’s frozen assets are estimated to be about US$ 150 billion.
The rest is held in ‘foreign’ banks, but what really matters is how friendly the direct holders are to the U.S. dollar and U.S. financial institutions. Iran, if free to do so, would probably de-dollarize like Russia.
Iran stopped selling oil in U.S. dollars in 2008, but that seems to have ended in the sanctions era. The billions earned from sanctions waivers may be frozen in escrow in U.S. dollars. There’s also said to be a fair amount of cash that’s not directly government-connected held by (likely politically important) private entities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_frozen_assets
The Wiki has an OK article on the subject; a few links indicate a pattern of Iran moving cash away from U.S.-friendly countries like South Korea (US$ 7 billion) to Europe (Germany) and Europe-friendly countries (United Arab Emirates). China also holds Iranian money.
The gangster admin. believes it is above international laws, that it can make it`s own laws and demands that any international institution and country abide by it, or be sanctioned.
US is making a twisted interpretation of the law, although resolution 2231 names the US as a participant member state, you have to actually participate in the JCPOA to make use of the snapback dispute mechanism. US withdrew so I dont see how they have any standing to even bring any complaint. US wants to keeps all the rights in the deal whilst avoiding any obligations.
“… a clause in the agreement that would allow it to reimpose, or “snapback,” all sanctions if Iran failed to comply with the agreement.”
Iran has fully complied with the agreement.
US does not have standing on two counts;
1) They have withdrawn from the agreement
2) Iran is in compliance.
It should be Iran and the other signatories of the nuke deal demanding snap back sanctions against the US for its unilateral withdrawal. The Fatboy is off his rocker.
“Two years ago I withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, which was a product of the Obama-Biden foreign policy failure — a failure like few people have seen in terms of the amount of money we paid for absolutely nothing and a short-term deal,” Trump said.
Does Trump still think that it was OUR money?
Trump says this: “If and when I win the election, within the first month, Iran will come to us and they are going to be asking for a deal so quickly because they are doing very poorly,” he said, adding that sanctions have crippled Iran’s economy and limited the amount of money it can use to support militant groups.
Craft says this: “Iran’s support for its proxies in Syria only helps to bolster the Assad regime and undermine the U.N. process,” said U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft in remarks at Wednesday’s council meeting on Syria. “How will giving Iran access to more weapons serve the interests of international peace and security?”
Trump says Iran is doing “very poorly” while our ambassador says Iran is supporting proxies in Syria and apparently can afford to buy weapons otherwise there would be no need for an arms embargo. So which is it?
Speaking as a career construction type, it’s not unusual for a real estate developer to consider all money involved in a project to be their own, personal money.
Pompeo on Fox News was asked if the United States would target Russia and China with sanctions if they refuse to reinstate the UN sanctions on Iran.
“Absolutely,” he replied. “We have already done that, where we have seen any country violate … the current American sanctions,( witch are illegal ) we’ve held every nation accountable for that. We’ll do the same thing with respect to the broader UN Security Council sanctions as well.”
The US number 1 diplomat tells the world that he is not a diplomat, but a gangster.
“if the United States would target Russia and China with sanctions”
Already have, using many excuses. One more? A few more sanctions? Who would notice the distinction?
There has gone inflation in the US sanction threats.
When is the rest of the world going to drive us back to our shores and make us stay here?
Not only are they gangsters, they are also pirates.
Demand all you want….Not only it’s not gonna happen, but also it will be another colossal defeat for US at UNSC….!
And it was. The only country that voted with the US was the Dominican Republic. Maybe Trump can seek sanctuary there after the election.
Unfortunately there is no shame or remorse for Pompeo, Trump or anyone in the WH. They will attemp to pull stunts like this again the first chance they get…!
All Iran has to do is wait it out, the US is toast, burning the candle on both ends, people are surviving by maxing out their credit cards with no income to ever pay back, economic collapse is in the not to distant future, a huge adjustment will have to be made, no time for bullying.
“Iran did not violate the accord. Paragraph 36 of the JCPOA states that if one signatory of the pact believes that some others “were not meeting their commitments” under the deal, then, after certain meetings and consultations, it would have “grounds to cease performing its commitments.”
“It’s an open and shut case. By pulling out of the deal and re-imposing sanctions, Trump announced that the United States would no longer meet its commitments.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/trump-iran-jcpoa-enrichment-uranium-deal.html
Trump should stick it up his rosy-red you know what.