Iran plays down potential impact of Pompeo appointment on nuclear deal

Pompeo’s hostility towards the Iran nuclear deal and his closeness with Trump is likely to frame the U.S. posture in talks on North Korea’s denuclearisation.

As for Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil CEO whom Trump picked as his administration’s top Cabinet official, the president said simply, “we disagreed on things”. To them, the deal is of high importance and its decertification would distract from focusing on Iran’s regional and missile program activities as well as its human rights issues. I thought that a bit odd and wondered what kind of personal rapport would or could be established. Trump is also said to respect Pompeo’s military background and West Point pedigree.

“We were not really thinking the same”, said Trump.

The current situation around Iran’s nuclear deal underscores the contradictions in the United States position, according to the scholar. The firing of Tillerson was hardly a surprise, and many people have been expecting it ever since it was reported in October that Tillerson had called Trump a “moron” in a meeting with other administration officials (which Tillerson then refused to deny).

Trump has repeatedly criticized the agreement: in January, he said he was “waiving” the application of certain sanctions, but only so that the European parties to the deal could work on improving it.

US and European diplomats say they’re closer on long-range ballistic missile launches, inspections and new sanctions on Iranian-backed militant groups.

Faisal J. Abbas, the editor-in-chief of the Arab News, similarly said Tillerson’s mishandling of the Middle East “turned the region into his political graveyard”. Every problem is Iran. “We deal with rumors and innuendo all the time”.

Thomas Hill, a former senior staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee now at the Brookings Institution, echoed the sentiment.

The nuclear deal was agreed by the USA administration of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, as well as Britain, China, France, Germany and Russian Federation. And that’s assuming warfare with conventional weapons, not nuclear ones. And a handful of highly motivated and at least somewhat capable Trump selections, such as Scott Pruitt at the EPA, are able to do plenty until they too wind up on the president’s bad side.

“One of the most important jobs for the secretary of state is to make clear to the world the president’s policies and priorities”, Sen.

President Donald Trump’s nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the new secretary of state has drawn the ire of a number of activist groups. “This relationship will empower him throughout his tenure as secretary of state”. The CIA director no doubt was fully apprised of South Korea’s outreach to the North, and of Kim’s offer to meet with Trump. Mr Barrasso recommends study of Mr Trump’s campaign priorities-border security, trade fights and tax cuts-to know what is coming. Countryman, who was assistant secretary of state for worldwide security and nonproliferation, said if Pompeo “has a disdain for diplomacy mirroring Trump’s, it will be bad for the department and the country”.

For the moment, U.S. diplomacy is carrying on as before. Instead, it likely means a more effective Trump foreign policy – one with the State Department inside the circle of decision-makers, instead of outside.

“They are our second largest trading partner, our largest source of foreign direct investment, our strongest security and defense ally”, Julie Bishop, Australian foreign minister said. We spent most of last year investing a lot into attempts to work together to solve problems, to address differences and, quite frankly, after a year we didn’t get very far.

Trump’s tone in announcing the reshuffle was nearly that of an exultant commander picking his “war cabinet”, though the challenges for now will be diplomatic.

On Monday, the world was shocked to learn that instead of being accorded the courtesy of a meeting or at least a phone call, the USA secretary of state was sacked by a presidential tweet.The unceremonious exit of Rex Tillerson from the cabinet was reported as just another example of President Trump’s chaotic manner of management, coupled with his lack of what in a more civil era we would have described as good manners or gentlemanly behavior. Trump wanted to tear up Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran; Tillerson wanted to keep it. Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris agreement on climate change; Tillerson wanted to stay in. This would nearly certainly destroy the agreement.