By Jubin Katiraie
British politician and former defence secretary Liam Fox will give a speech in Washington in which he will say that the attempts to save, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are pointless. In his speech, he will urge the United Kingdom and the remaining signatories of the deal, to follow in the steps of the United States President Donald Trump.
Mr Fox has said that the nuclear deal is “dead” and said that the best course of action would be for the United Kingdom to also take action to bring Iran back to the negotiating table. He believes, like Trump, that the JCPOA is flawed, and has been from the very beginning.
Mr Fox’s speech is to effectively urge the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to follow the United States’ lead and withdraw from the deal.
Tensions between Iran and the West have escalated in recent months, especially following the attack on Saudi oil facilities on Saturday morning.
President Trump has offered to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on a number of occasions, but Iran has totally rejected the possibility. Just this week, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, said that Iran would not be negotiating with the United States “at any level”, amid speculation that the US and Iranian presidents could meet next week during the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.
The JCPOA was intended to be former President Barack Obama’s foreign policy achievement, but from the get-go, many warned that negotiating with Iran and providing it with considerable concessions and sanctions relief would be a mistake.
Obama insisted that Iran’s behaviour would become more moderate and he convinced many that considerable change would be seen. However, all the nuclear deal did was embolden the regime. Indeed, the regime knew how desperate Obama was to get the agreement in place and it was able to achieve major concessions.
However, the Trump administration has been clamping down on the regime and has been urging the international community to address Iran’s belligerence as the number one state sponsor of terrorism.
Following the attack on Saudi oil facilities, King Salman of Saudi Arabia called on leaders across the world to condemn the attacks and to present a united front against the Iran threat. He said that world leaders must confront the perpetrators, adding that it is a “responsibility” to speak out.
