Iran warns of reaction to renewal of decades-old sanction

For the foreseeable future this list will not include the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran – unless he takes the risky step of sabotaging the agreement or allowing it fall apart due to neglect. Tehran would protest that these moves violate the spirit of the JCPOA, but it is unlikely Iran would end the agreement over them. US policy on Iran during the Bush and Obama administrations worsened the situation for the Iranian people. While that seems far-fetched, Mr Trump has demonstrated an isolationist streak in questioning the value of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the nuclear umbrella over South Korea and Japan.

US President-elect Donald Trump has said it would be hard to destroy a deal enshrined in a United Nations resolution.

The agreement, which officially took effect in January, has released hundreds of millions of dollars in impounded Iranian funds and spurred a rush of European business interest in Iran trade and investment deals, generating momentum that would be hard to reverse.

The opponents of the deal in the US Congress have also been threatening that a future US administration opposed to the agreement would scrap it. It imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for easing sanctions that have badly hurt its economy.

In the meantime, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is charged with supervising the Iranian compliance with the nuclear agreement has confirmed a number of Iranian violations. But, like many other promises made during the campaign, Trump will probably modify his promise on Iran’s nuclear deal.

The Iranian government and other world super powers settled the nuclear deal past year, known as JCPOA. He didn’t name any other specific USA “violation”.

The U.S., of course, gained nearly nothing financially from the JCPOA in contrast to its economic competitors in Europe and Asia.

The deal was created as a political commitment rather than a treaty. It was endorsed by the UN Security Council. So they’re trying to pre-empt any actions by a new administration that could jeopardize their scheme.

The White House believes that the legislation would be a violation of the nuclear pact and has said Mr Obama would veto the measure even if it did pass the senate.

Edward Swaine is a law professor at George Washington University and a former legal adviser to the U.S. State Department.

“The JCPOA must not become a tool for pressuring the Iranian people”, Mr Khamenei said. They are now calling for tighter sanctions on Iran and for the agreement to be strictly enforced. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told MSNBC last week.

Nevertheless, Ravanchi said the agreement could still be in danger.

House Republican leaders are urging President Barack Obama to take no more action on Iran that could reinforce the nuclear deal before he leaves office.

In order to ease financial boundaries, Iranian officials are now in Brussels, negotiating with representatives of the European Union. Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies opined that under Trump there should be “no more free lunches for the Iranians, no more unilateral concessions, no more excuses”. That, in turn, can be applied to making the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

Orde Kittrie is a senior fellow at the foundation.

His public calm belies divisions within Iranian politics over the deal and the wisdom of negotiating anything with the United States, a longtime geopolitical foe. The choices so far of retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn for national security advisor and Rep. Michael Pompeo for Central Intelligence Agency director (Pompeo says he wants to roll back the JCPOA) indicate Trump’s intent to change the deal in a deliberate manner. Fortunately, the Times has lost so much credibility that few take articles such as its NIAC-report story seriously.

“You’d have to have onsite inspections anytime, anywhere, to start off with, which we don’t have at all”.