By ending the nuclear deal, Trump has put America on the path to war

[muriel_volestrangler]

Last week, Donald Trump made one of the most reckless moves of his presidency: withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear agreement. With this decision, Trump discarded years of hard work by our diplomats, who had obtained an extremely rigorous set of restrictions and inspections guaranteeing that Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon. He also slammed the door on a once-promising possibility of detente between the United States and Iran.

It’s important to understand that the JCPOA is not just an agreement between the United States and Iran, but one negotiated alongside our partners in the P5+1 – the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Germany – and endorsed by the United Nations security council. Trump’s withdrawal further deepens tensions with our most important democratic allies, France, the UK and Germany, who all continue to support the agreement and have consistently said that it is in their own national security interests to see it upheld.

Trump also rejected the advice of his own top national security officials like Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford and Defense Secretary James Mattis, both of whom have repeatedly stated that staying in the agreement is in the national security interests of the United States. Nuclear nonproliferation and national security professionals around the world share that assessment. Just as he has done on the issue of climate change with his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, Trump has chosen to ignore the overwhelming expert consensus and sided instead with a small ideological faction, with disastrous consequences for our global security.

Withdrawing from the JCPOA also seriously harms the United States’ ability to negotiate future nonproliferation agreements, such as one with North Korea. Why would any country in the world sign such an agreement with the United States, and make the tough concessions that any such agreement requires, if they thought that a reckless president might simply discard that agreement a few years later?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/nuclear-deal-trump-america-war

[mwooldri]

1. Could we possibly see EU sanctions against the US?

Now sanction blockers are quite likely, especially since France (and to some extent Germany) have many trade deals with Iran that have been signed (Airbus for planes, Total for oil/gas exploration, Peugeot/Citroen/Opel and Renault for cars). But would the EU get into a sanction tit for tat with the USA?

There's lots of stuff that the EU could also place an export ban on. Tech, pharmaceuticals, machinery...as the EU collectively is America's #1 trading partner the EU could do a lot of hurt if it wanted to.

[2naSalit]

2. That'S what I Was thinking this morning

As I have every morning for the past 600+ mornings.