Iran Focus

London, 17 Oct – Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, the former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, wrote an op-ed for Arab News explaining that since Trump’s decision to decertify Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, Europe has become more critical of Iran.

He wrote: “To tell you the truth, the change in tone has taken us by surprise. Since US President Donald Trump announced his decision to decertify the nuclear agreement last weekend, the UK and Germany have become more assertive in criticizing Iran. While remaining committed to the nuclear deal, they are clear about Iran’s regional meddling; they say the international community needs to continue to come together to push back against Iran’s destabilizing regional activity, and to explore ways of addressing concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile program. In other words, they are supporting Trump’s project against the Iranian regime in the Middle East.”

Iran Focus

London, 17 Oct – Investor Business Daily published an op-ed explaining why Trump’s decision to decertify the Iran deal was a “clever” move.

They wrote that Trump’s decertification puts the onus on Congress to decide in the next 60 days whether or not to impose sanctions on Iran, leave the deal altogether, or write a new, more effective deal to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons- giving Congress the choice that they didn’t have in 2015.

The decision yet to be made by Congress is what Trump calls “phase two”.

Iran Focus

London, 16 Oct – Following Donald Trump’s decision to decertify the Iran nuclear deal he received much criticism from Western powers who ignored the real threat that the Iranian Regime posed.

Baria Alamuddin, the editor of the Media Services Syndicate and a foreign editor at Al-Hayat, wrote an op-ed for Arab News in which she assessed that the Iranian Regime’s nuclear programme may indeed be the least of our concerns at the moment.

She wrote: “Iran-backed militias such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and a plethora of paramilitaries in Syria are now deciding issues of war and peace in these states — on behalf of Tehran.”

Iran Focus

London, 15 Oct – United States President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a new strategy for dealing with Iran was being initiated. He refused to recertify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal which is no surprise because he has criticised it on a number of occasions. At the recent United Nations General Assembly, he said it was an “embarrassment” and described it as “one-sided”.

He has been critical of the former administration’s treatment of the deal, pointing out that many of Iran’s dangerous actions are not addressed. Trump has even said that the nuclear deal, instead of curbing Iran’s nuclear program, actually paves the way.