What is Trump up to?
The US President Donald Trump in a dramatic move has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal ahead of the deadline set for May 12. True to his hell-bent attitude to abandon the deal spearheaded by his predecessor Obama, he has given another proof of an impulsive action distancing himself from a multilateral approach to romp on to an isolationist trajectory.
Never mind his lack of distinction between major and minor events or his warped sense of proportion or the light in which he may be presented over a certain media house, you can be sure about one thing: He is a head-turner with a genius to glare in the limelight. For instance, in an NBC comedy show his dummy was shown lamenting to a mock porn star Stormy Daniels, "I have solved the North-South Korean problem, why aren't we being able to solve ours?" Pat came the reply, "Not until you resign. I know you don't believe in climate change but a storm is coming, baby!"
After seeing all the good work done to bring North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in together on a likely peace deal as precursor to a summit between president Trump and the North Korean leader, Washington is accused of "ruining the mood for reconciliation."
Then you come by a deflection of focus of a most rabid kind: Trump who not so long ago dusted dandruff off the jacket of French President Macron in a rare cosying up gesture triggered angry reactions in France and Britain by bragging that were the French citizens allowed to buy weapons, the Paris attack could have been stonewalled!
It used to be said in the Cold War era that America considered itself as the "Sun around which all planets must move." The sun complex may have gone along with "pivoting" to a region—the paraphernalia though remains intact in various theatres—the US has transformed from predominance to "primacy" in terms of raw self-interest. It demands its pound of flesh in every deal, cut even in the past supposed to be respected by successor governments. This is euphemistically called America first policy—so much for the US increasingly appearing in a tough customer's role in world affairs today.
Kofi Annan in a recent BBC interview while responding to a question about who might fill in the vacuum the US might leave, named China and Russia as possible candidates.
The US thinks the deal doesn't address Iran's ballistic missiles programme or its role in wars in Syria and Yemen. The EU may move to respond to "Trump's concerns" over the terms under which international inspectors are to visit suspicious Iranian sites and "sunset" clauses under which some terms of the deal are to expire. Moreover, as an aside, Trump rues the fact that it does not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Under the deal known as The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the US is committed to ease a series of sanctions on Iran and it has done so under a string of "waivers" that effectively suspended them. The withdrawal of US sanctions that promised to unlock Iran's economy should it come to pass would make Rouhani feel hard done by. And unsurprisingly, he has spoken of retaliation against such a move.
The Zionist threat to Middle East might get traction from a re-imposition of sanctions. Jack Straw, a foreign secretary involved in earlier efforts to restrict Iranian weapons was quoted as referring to "appalling allegations" against some officials of the Obama administration. A private Israeli investigating agency has been hired to organise "dirty ops" campaign against key people in the previous administration who had helped negotiate the deal. This reflected a "high level desperation" by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu—"not so much to discredit the deal but to undermine those around it."
Actually, the US risks being isolated if it pushes the deal issue too far, because it must not be lost on Trump that UK, China, France, Germany and Russia are co-signatories to the nuclear deal under the UN's supportive wings. In all possibility, they would not pull out of the accord, so why must Washington throw the baby with the bath water?
Shah Husain Imam is adjunct faculty at East West University, a commentator on current affairs and former Associate Editor, The Daily Star.
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