The president just announced the abrogation of the Iran nuclear agreement. Trump assured Americans this day would arrive if he was elected, and he has kept his campaign promise.
The naysayers are flooding the news networks. What are they saying?
The negotiations with North Korea will be much more difficult because Kim Jong-un cannot be sure Trump or his successors will honor a new deal in the future. Trump has made it perfectly clear about what he expects from North Korea. The most important expectations are that North Korea will no longer have a nuclear capability, and all facilities and military installations will be inspected regularly to ensure that North Korea is living up to any agreement.
Regarding Iran, the authorities cannot freely inspect its facilities, and the country will be able to build a bomb legally by 2015. The agreement did not give any comfort to Iran’s neighbors, including Israel and all Sunni nations, or the signatories to the deal for that matter.
Our European allies will no longer have confidence in American diplomacy. If Trump succeeds in renegotiating the Iran deal ensuring that Iran will never have a deliverable nuclear weapon, the allies will be ecstatic and salute the president.
Unfortunately there are economic issues at hand. Some of the allies do businesses with Iran and those arrangements could be in jeopardy. This circumstance could have some impact on the European reaction to the president’s actions.
Supposedly Iran will attempt to build a bomb now, the naysayers say. While this is happening, the president promised to install the harshest economic sanctions on Iran and any nation that abets it. The impact on Iran’s economy will be devastating and put the stability of the current regime under great pressure.
The authors of the Iran deal are furious. In fact John Kerry, the US’s lead negotiator, is allegedly working behind the scenes to denigrate Trump’s efforts. Kerry did a lousy job, and Trump exposed it. Kerry should tread carefully because his actions are illegal. He is not authorized to represent the US. Kerry and President Obama’s faux nuclear proliferation legacy has been exposed as a dismal failure.
What’s good about this diplomatic gambit by President Trump?
PM Netanyahu of Israel has exposed Iran’s leaders as liars thanks to recent disclosures. The ayatollahs cannot be trusted even as benign member of the international community of nations. It’s insanity to think that a nuclear weapon in their arsenal will make Iran more peaceful or productive.
It’s dubious that Iran will be able to attain its dream of wielding a weapon of mass destruction in the faces of Israel and the Sunni world. The sanctions and military threats from the US will delay indefinitely the development of a nuke. This will have the effect of postponing the ambitions of Iran’s enemies to develop or buy a nuclear bomb in response to Iran.
Trump is making history. He is on the brink of establishing an effective way to respond to new nuclear ambitious nations. When Iran and North Korea are denuclearized, it will be much easier to prevent future rogue nations from going down the same path.
The consummation of a North Korean and Iran denuclearization plan is going to be a long and difficult journey. But what could be more important to the world and to humanity?