{"id":43830,"date":"2017-09-21T05:05:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T05:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=43830"},"modified":"2017-09-21T05:05:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T05:05:01","slug":"trump-pushes-to-revisit-iran-nuclear-deal-and-asks-allies-to-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/trump-pushes-to-revisit-iran-nuclear-deal-and-asks-allies-to-help.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump Pushes to Revisit Iran Nuclear Deal, and Asks Allies to Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump Pushes to Revisit Iran Nuclear Deal, and Asks Allies to Help<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Trump Pushes to Revisit Iran Nuclear Deal, and Asks Allies to Help:- President Trump is seeking to revisit the nuclear agreement with Iran to toughen its provisions rather than scrap it right away as he has threatened, enlisting allies to pressure Tehran to return to the negotiating table, administration officials said Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump, who denounced the agreement in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly this week as an \u201cembarrassment to the United States,\u201d wants to expand on it by extending its time frame and imposing new limits on Iran\u2019s development of ballistic missiles. Although European officials strongly back the current deal, some signaled openness to negotiating a separate follow-up agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

The maneuvering suggested a possible path forward for Mr. Trump short of abandoning the accord, but it remains uncertain whether he can reach consensus with the European allies, much less with Russia and China, the deal\u2019s other patrons. Iran on Wednesday ruled out revisiting the agreement as President Hassan Rouhani declared it a \u201cclosed issue\u201d and warned that if the United States pulled out, Iran might resume uranium enrichment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe see today the Americans are seeking an excuse to break this agreement,\u201d Mr. Rouhani said at a news conference after his own speech to the General Assembly. For that reason, he said, negotiating with \u201can American government that tramples on a legal agreement would be a waste of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The accord, reached in 2015, required Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. Under United States law, Mr. Trump has until Oct. 15 to certify whether Iran is complying and the deal remains vital to America\u2019s national security. While he has done so twice since taking office, he has signaled that he will refuse to do so again.<\/span><\/p>\n

That by itself would not abrogate the deal, but would give Congress 60 days to reimpose sanctions on Iran, an action that would mean an end to the agreement, at least for the United States. Mr. Trump may see decertification, or the threat of it, as leverage to press Iran and the other powers to restart talks. He could offer to certify for another 90 days if other parties agreed to explore new negotiations.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the president teased reporters who asked him whether he had decided what to do. \u201cI have decided,\u201d he said, repeating the phrase three times. Pressed by reporters, he added: \u201cI\u2019ll let you know. I\u2019ll let you know.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Trump remained coy later when he met with Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain and declined to tell her his decision either. \u201cPrime Minister May asked him if he would share it with her and he said no,\u201d Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Tillerson met in the evening with counterparts from the other countries that brokered the deal \u2014 Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China \u2014 as well as Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. It was the first time Mr. Tillerson had been in the same room with Mr. Zarif since taking office and he described the session as businesslike.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good opportunity to meet, shake hands,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThe tone was very matter of fact. There was no yelling. We didn\u2019t throw shoes at one another.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Tillerson acknowledged that international inspectors have found that Iran \u201cis in technical compliance with the agreement, and no one around the table took exception to that.\u201d But he argued that Iran was violating the larger aspirations of the deal by engaging in destabilizing activities not directly covered by it, like supporting terrorist groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also conceded that prospects of persuading the other powers, much less Iran, to revisit the deal were daunting, even as he said he remained optimistic. When negotiating as chief executive of Exxon Mobil, Mr. Tillerson said he had learned that \u201cit always gets the darkest before you might have a breakthrough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

No breakthrough was apparent on Wednesday evening. Federica Mogherini, the foreign minister for the European Union who led the 90-minute meeting, rejected scrapping or renegotiating the agreement. \u201cThe international community cannot afford dismantling an agreement that is working and delivering,\u201d she told reporters outside the Security Council chamber.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an agreement that prevented a nuclear program and potentially prevented military intervention. Let\u2019s not forget that,\u201d she added. \u201cThere is no need to renegotiate parts of the agreement, because the agreement is working.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Tillerson outlined the Trump administration approach in a television interview on Tuesday. \u201cThe president really wants to redo that deal,\u201d he told Fox News. \u201cWe do need the support, I think, of our allies, the European allies and others, to make the case as well to Iran that this deal really has to be revisited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Two provisions he focused on involve the expiration of the agreement and its failure to stop Iran from developing ballistic missiles. Under the deal, some provisions expire, or \u201csunset,\u201d after as few as 10 years while others are in force longer and some are permanent. And although United Nations provisions seek to limit ballistic missile technology, the nuclear agreement does not prohibit Iran from developing such weapons.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to stick with the Iran deal, there has to be changes made to it,\u201d Mr. Tillerson said. \u201cThe sunset provision simply is not a sensible way forward. It\u2019s just simply, as I say, kicking the can down the road again for someone in the future to have to deal with.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

President Emmanuel Macron of France opened the door to rethinking its terms on Wednesday, two days after meeting with Mr. Trump. Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, Mr. Macron said France favored keeping the agreement \u201cbecause it\u2019s a good one,\u201d but would support adding \u201ctwo to three other pillars,\u201d or provisions. He cited ballistic missiles and the deal\u2019s expiration dates.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Macron also said he favored \u201can open discussion with Iran about the current situation in the region.\u201d But he added, \u201cI think it would be a mistake just to abandon the nuclear agreement without that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The French position would be to leave the current agreement in place but negotiate a supplemental deal to address concerns, according to a European official. Such an approach could potentially satisfy Israel, whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also met with Mr. Trump this week and later told the United Nations that the deal should be amended or rescinded. \u201cChange it or cancel it,\u201d he said. \u201cFix it or nix it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to the General Assembly, Mr. Rouhani on Wednesday praised the deal as a \u201cmodel,\u201d arguing that the Middle East was safer for it. \u201cIt will be a great pity if this agreement were to be destroyed by rogue newcomers to the world of politics,\u201d he said. \u201cThe world will have lost a great opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Iranian president sought to flip the script on the Trump administration\u2019s contention that Iran destabilizes the Middle East. He said American taxpayers should ask why billions of dollars spent in the region had not advanced peace, and \u201conly brought war, misery, poverty\u201d and the \u201crise of extremism to the region.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe ignorant, absurd and hateful rhetoric, filled with ridiculously baseless allegations, that was uttered before this august body yesterday,\u201d Mr. Rouhani said, referring to Mr. Trump\u2019s speech was \u201cunfit to be heard at the United Nations, which was established to promote peace and respect between nations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At a later news conference, Mr. Rouhani demanded an apology from Mr. Trump and said the nuclear agreement could not be amended, reopened or renegotiated. Given the Trump administration\u2019s open hostility, he said he saw no reason for dialogue. \u201cIt is not realistic,\u201d he said. Should the agreement unravel, he said one option \u201cmay be to start enrichment\u201d of uranium.<\/span><\/p>\n

If negotiations were to reopen in some form, the challenge for Mr. Trump would be how to persuade Iran to make further concessions. The sanctions that forced Iran to the table under Mr. Obama have been lifted, so Mr. Trump would have less leverage. And it is not clear what, if anything, he would be willing to offer to strike a deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are concerns that the administration has, they certainly can suggest an additional negotiation leaving the deal intact and implemented,\u201d Wendy R. Sherman, who negotiated the accord for Mr. Obama, said in an interview. \u201cBut that would also require the United States government to be ready to put something on the table. If the administration is looking for more, they will also have to give more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Representative Ed Royce, the California Republican who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made a similar point. Once sanctions were lifted, he noted, Iran recovered funds that had been frozen in the West, eliminating that leverage. \u201cThey now have this money,\u201d Mr. Royce said on CNN on Tuesday. \u201cAnd so in a way, the toothpaste is out of the tube.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He suggested it would be better to make the agreement work rather than pull out altogether. \u201cI think we should enforce the hell out of the agreement,\u201d he said, \u201cand thereby force compliance on the part of Iran.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/09\/20\/world\/middleeast\/trump-iran-nuclear-deal.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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