Iran, Macromel and the Purloined Letter

May 6, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute. org/12254/iran-macromel

• There is of course nothing illegal about enriching uranium or producing nuclear weapons or even using them. The only thing is that you cannot be a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), as Iran has been from the start, and violate it at the same time.

• That the Europeans don't care much about the substance of the issue is indicated by Macron and Merkel insisting that "signatures" be honored. The fact, however, is that no one signed the "deal" which lacks a legal status.

• The Obama "deal" is bad for Iran, bad for Europe and bad for the Middle East. At the same time it keeps the clock ticking towards the "threshold" moment when the mullahs, if their regime survives, decide to go full shebang for "the ultimate weapon."

Seeking to persuade the US President Donald Trump to drop his demand for improving the "nuke deal" with Iran, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have insisted on one shibboleth: No better deal is possible!

Hmmm

https://twitter. com/ThomasWictor/status/993225841990553600

Retweeted by Wictor - Iranians who want the Iran deal cancelled. Claim it only benefits the mullahs and not the country.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute. org/12254/iran-macromel

….Since the Obama deal was unveiled, British exports to Iran have risen to $1.1 billion a year, an increase of 168 percent. French exports have topped $1.8 billion, a rise of 85 percent while Germany has done even better with exports of $2.6 billion, a 77 percent rise.

And that is all for starters. Currently Iran is the largest market still kept outside the global system. If re-admitted, it would be worth $300 billion a year for key exporting nations, among them the European trio.

Just as Iran has been cheating in plain sight, the European trio has also reneged on promises in the "deal." They still refuse to give Iran access to banking and capital market services, and have suspended export-guarantees for trade with the Islamic Republic.

In other words the "deal" is propped up as a great diplomatic achievement by those, on Iranian as well as the European side, that have no intention of implementing it.

That the Europeans don't care much about the substance of the issue is indicated by Macron and Merkel insisting that "signatures" be honored. The fact, however, is that no one signed the "deal" which lacks a legal status.

The Obama "deal" is bad for Iran, bad for Europe and bad for the Middle East. It keeps Iran under never-ending sanctions with just enough relief to keep its dying economy half-alive in the short-term interest of European and Chinese exporters. At the same time it keeps the clock ticking towards the "threshold" moment when the mullahs, if their regime survives, decide to go full shebang for "the ultimate weapon."

Trump has two options: The first is to let the charade continue by "suspending" the implementation of the "deal" without formally denouncing it; in other words by adding a new layer of fudge to the thick layer inherited from Obama. The other option is to seek an improved deal, improved both for Iran and for the rest of the world, through a clear legal framework. To be sure, that kind of serious diplomacy won't get Trump a Nobel Peace Prize. But it might, just might, remove the spectre of war from a region that has had its full share of wars.

>>1328926

In this case Europe too: https://www.gatestoneinstitute. org/12254/iran-macromel

Usual shit, screw the people so a few at the top can live like pigs at a trough.