De-escalation, diplomacy, easing tensions, maximum restraint; the usual platitudes were repeated by EU foreign affairs ministers as they came together in Brussels to discuss deteriorating Washington-Tehran relations. In defiance of Donald Trump, they again repeated they want to save the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA Iran nuclear deal. The matter is clearly causing frustration.
Even as the ministers were meeting, the US was announcing new sanctions on Tehran and threatening sanctions against any country that trades with Iran with a view to preserving the JCPOA. Trumps critics claim he is merely the puppet of the highly powerful Israel lobby. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be pulling the strings but experts suggest many of his opponents would like to see the Iran nuclear deal remain in place.
Authorities in Tehran accuse the US of economic terrorism. Many analysts say Trump and the hawks around him are doing all they can to provoke the Islamic Republic at the behest of US allies in the region. So far the European Union has shown it is incapable of standing up to the US president. For example, no clear strategy emerged from the Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting as to how to save the JCPOA.
Political commentators are saying that the US is not only trying to bully Iran it is also trying to do the same to the international community by threatening to impose sanctions on those who do business with the Islamic Republic. In addition, they say Trump has shown that any future international agreements signed by Washington will not be worth the paper they are written on.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/12639
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