Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Rumors of War - Persia

Hassan Rouhani: 'Grave consequences' if U.S. dumps nuclear deal - UPI.com
UPI reports: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the United States Tuesday against leaving the Obama-era nuclear deal, as President Donald Trump talks it over with French President Emmanuel Macron. [...] Trump blamed Iran for multiple conflicts in the Middle East, including in Syria and in Yemen, while Macron said the goal was to 'contain Iran and its presence in the region.' [...] Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov said he and his Chinese counterpart had agreed to block any U.S. attempt to sabotage the deal."

Comment: It's true that Iran has recently become much more aggressive in pursuing regional hegemony in the Middle East.  Is that a result of the nuclear deal? What if Trump is right, it was a bad deal? What if that is true and at the same time it's also true that if the U.S. does back out of the Iran deal, it sets a precedent that undermines disarmament talks with North Korea. It's a real conundrum. Trump may be tempted to say that the two issues are not related, but clearly the rest of the world will not see it that way. Either the U.S. is a reliable negotiator or not. There is very little middle ground.

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