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Rouhani in US to defend deal against Trump

Politics Materials 17 September 2017 23:00 (UTC +04:00)
Senior officials from more than 100 countries including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are attending the UN General Assembly in New York this week
Rouhani in US to defend deal against Trump

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 17

By Farhad Daneshvar, Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:

Senior officials from more than 100 countries including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are attending the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

In the meantime, the signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA/ nuclear deal) are expected to attend a meeting to discuss the latest developments regarding the implementation of the nuclear accord.

Mostafa Derayati, an Iranian pro-reform activist and commentator told Trend that Rouhani’s trip to New York can be of high value to help safeguard the nuclear deal.

“Iran should make attempt to preserve the trust that it has built over its nuclear program. One way to do that is to stay committed to its obligations under the JCPOA. The other is for Iran to enhance its level of relations with other countries, especially countries with a role in the deal.”

This is while the US President Donald Trump continues to make threating remarks against the nuclear deal which was reached in 2015 between Iran and the world powers including the US.

"You'll see what I'm going to be doing very shortly in October," Trump told reporters on September 15. "The Iran deal is one of the worst deals I've ever seen.”

In the meantime, there are unconfirmed reports suggesting that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart Rex Tillerson may meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

While many describe a possible meeting between Iranian and American diplomats as an opportunity for de-escalation between the two nations, a group of commentators believe that such a meeting would leave no impact on the disturbed ties as the new US policy towards Iran sounds too hostile.

Earlier in June Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the House Foreign Relations Committee that the Trump administration’s Iran policy included the intention to “work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government.”

Coming to the nuclear deal and the question whether the US will walk away from the deal, many suggest that such a decision would harm the US itself.

These groups of commentators say that the US is very likely to keep the deal but it will step up pressure on Iran in order to prevent Iran from benefiting from the nuclear accord.

In accordance with the law, the Trump administration has declared Iran compliant of the nuclear deal, twice, so far.

Nonetheless, President Trump has threatened with the declaration of Iran’s non-compliancy, for the next review in October.

“I believe that the US will continue to declare Iran compliant, but it will couple this with more non-nuclear sanctions and angry rhetoric,” Barbara Slavin, the director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, earlier told Trend.

In this case most Western companies and banks will be discouraged from doing business in Iran.

However, Europeans, so far, have shown interest in cooperation with Iran as they consider the Middle Eastern nation as an untapped market and that is why they have voiced their interest in protecting the deal.

Derayati believes that the US administration is doing whatever it can to find a way to declare Iran in breach of the deal and then withdraw from the accord on account of Iran’s non-commitment.

“Iran should engage in stronger and stronger relations with the world in order to prevent the US from achieving that, or at least to make it costly for the US,” he noted, adding that by reaching out to the world, Rouhani can undermine the grounds on which Trump plans to stage his anti-Iran claims.

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