Tabnak – After days of speculation and ambiguity, US President Donald Trump declared tonight that he has once again extended sanctions relief for Iran, provisioned by 2015 nuclear deal. However, Washington at the same time has imposed sanctions on some people and entities related to the Islamic Republic.
US President Donald Trump, who had said his administration would decertify the nuclear deal with Iran, decided on Friday to extend the sanctions waiver to the country for the third time as a part of the deal.
The White House announced on Friday that Trump certified Iran’s sanctions relief for the last time and if the amendments intended by him regarding the Sunset Clause as well as intensified monitoring and adding Iran’s missile issue to the 2015 nuclear deal, are not included in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he will quit the deal.
Meanwhile, concurrent with Trump’s decision, United States Department of Treasury in an unfair and hostile move added 14 other Iranian individuals and institutes to the list of the sanctions under the pretest of human rights violation and involvement in missile program.
Trump wants America's European allies to use the 120 day period before sanctions relief again comes up for renewal to agree to tougher measures, a senior White House official said Friday.
The US Congress requires the president to periodically certify Iran’s compliance with the agreement and issue a waiver to allow American sanctions to remain suspended.
A senior US administration official said Trump had privately expressed annoyance at having to once again waive sanctions. Trump has argued behind the scenes that he sees Iran as a rising threat in the Middle East and the nuclear deal makes the United States look weak, a senior US official said.
The Republican president had privately expressed reluctance to heed the advice of top advisers -- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster -- recommending him not to reimpose the suspended sanctions.
According to Gareth Porter, an American investigative journalist and policy analyst, Trump’s plan to impose additional sanctions against Iran that are separate from those covered under the international nuclear agreement violates the “spirit” of the deal and is a “clever way” of sabotaging it.
“Now there are indications that there's a strategy that the White House has agreed to, obviously at the behest of its foreign policy advisors, to basically do something more clever, which is not to withdraw from the agreement officially, but rather continue to levy new sanctions against Iran which are not in keeping with the agreement,” Porter told Press TV on Friday.
Trump’s decision comes as the foreign ministers of three signatories of JCPOA—France, Britain and Germany—plus the Foreign Policy Chief of the EU Federica Mogherini in a meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Thursday once again reiterated their support to the nuclear deal.
Mogherini said after the meeting that EU's stance on the nuclear deal is clear; “The deal is working.” “We greatly value the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran, we think it is a considerable diplomatic accomplishment,” she said.
