Warning 71-year-old President Donald Trump not to back out of former President Barack Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal, Iran’s 56-year-old U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that “all options were on the table.” Zarif knows that he has no military option with the U.S., using the oft-cited U.S. phrase when it comes to the U.S. enforcing certain international agreements. Negotiated by Zarif and former Secretary of State John Kerry for two years before signing the Joint Status Agreement AKA Iranian Nuke Deal July 14, 2015, pact requires Iran to suspend nuclear enrichment activities for 10 years in exchange for sanctions relief, allowing Iran to sell petroleum in world markets. While the international community believes Iran was working on an A-bomb, Iran vigorously denied such an activity all through two years of negotiation.
Trump has until May 12 to scrap the agreement and re-impose harsh economic sanctions on Tehran. Getting approval from a Senate Foreign Relations Committee panel for Secretary of State, CIA Director Mike Pompeo agrees with Trump the Iranian Nuke Deal does nothing to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Zarif made sure in the 2015 agreement that no intrusive inspections were allowed at any of Iran’s sensitive military facilities. Without verification by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], there’s no way to know that Iran has not stopped its military grade uranium enrichment . “It will lead to U.S. isolation in the international community,” said Zarif, if Trump decides to scrap the agreement with P5+1, including the U.S., U.K, France, Russia, China and Germany, the so-called international community.
Zarif knows that that same international community has mixed-givings about the agreement because Iran reneged on IAEA inspections at Iran’s military cites, leaving the door open for Iran to continue enrichment activities. When you consider Iran’s denials over working on an A-bomb, Zarif’s statements about “all options on the table,” make zero sense. If the 2015 agreement didn’t halt Iran’s weapons grade nuclear enrichment activities, then what’s the agreement worth? That’s precisely why Pompeo will advise Trump to scrap the Iranian Nuke Deal May 12, re-imposing draconic economic sanctions. Zarif wants it both ways: An agreement that gets Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief, while, at the same time, allows Iran to secretly pursue its military grade uranium enrichment activities. There’s nothing in the deal for the United States or international community.
Zarif warns about consequences to U.S. standing in the international community should Trump decide the agreement is not in the best interest of the United States. Yet Iran has nearly zero credibility in the international community for ignoring international laws to market its petroleum exports and, more importantly, sponsoring terrorism around the Middle East. Iran has supplied Hamas and Hezbollah, two recognized terror groups, with weapons for many years, currently supplying Houthi rebels in Yemen with missiles and other war-making material to battle Saudi Arabia. If you ask the Saudis about Iran’s good-neighbor role in the Middle East, they don’t have much standing. If Trump decides to scrap former President Barack Obama’s Iran Nuke Deal, it’s because it doesn’t improve U.S. national security or the security and stability in the Middle East.
Zarif doesn’t see that his warnings of harm to the U.S. if Trump scraps the agreement makes Trump’s argument. “It would not be pleasant for the United States—the reaction of the international community, and I said, Iran has many options and those options are not pleasant,” said Zarif. Zarif’s threats of Iran’s options refer to resuming it military grade uranium enrichment program for work on an A-bomb. What Zarif doesn’t get is that the current agreement doesn’t stop Iran from cheating at secret military sites, something not subject to intrusive IAEA inspections. Zarif’s warnings gives away Iran’s dirty little secret that its uranium enrichment program was indeed about generating enough military-grade uranium to build nuclear bombs. When Zarif talks about Iran’s options, he’s referring to Iran resuming weaponizing uranium.
With the clock ticking on the Iranian Nuke Deal and with Pompeo poised to win his nomination as Secretary of State, it’s doubtful Trump will continue the agreement. All of Zarif’s warnings relate to a threat of Iran resuming weaponizing uranium for A-bomb purposes. When you consider Iran’s recent threat to launch ballistic missiles at Israel connected with its 70th anniversary celebration May 14, Trump’s not likely to renew the agreement. All of Iran’s activities in the Middle East, including recently setting up permanent bases in Syria, points to Trump scrapping the deal. While Russia has a vested interest in keeping the deal, the U.S., U.K., France and Germany know it doesn’t help the Western alliance. Where China stands is anyone’s guess. If keeping the Nuke Deal means no IAEA inspections of Iran’s military sites, the deal’s worthless.
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