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.

Iran Focus

London, 12 Oct – Regarding the law requiring the president to determine every 90 days if Iran is abiding by the accord, Mr. Trump said, “If it was up to me, I would have had those noncompliant 180 days ago.” Although Trump has certified Iran’s compliance twice, he has done so reluctantly.

The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), did not pass the Senate with the two-thirds majority the Constitution requires of treaties, giving Trump the ability to abandon the deal as soon as he took office. In fact, as president, it was his duty, since he declared, as a candidate, his belief that, “The Iran deal poses a direct national-security threat.”

Iran Focus

London, 12 Oct – While everyone agrees that Iran must not be allowed to produce nuclear weapons, some go further and say that if the world’s number one supporter of terrorism is allowed to produce nuclear weapons, no other state can be denied them. Proliferation will result in a world of nuclear horror and chaos.

These critics say that Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), known as the Iran nuclear agreement, makes Iran a threshold nuclear weapons state. Further, they say that Iran must only wait for the “sunset clause” and it will be permitted to produce nuclear weapons. They believe that the outcome of this is that Mideast politics cannot permit Iran to be the sole regional possessor of nuclear weapons. In fact, other states such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, are already making covert preparations to go nuclear.