Last updated on June 7th, 2018 at 01:47 pm
Donald Trump has decided to keep active the mechanism that suspends the sanctions to Iran for its nuclear program, something on which the president of the US must pronounce itself every 120 days by the legal imperative.
“Today, I keep the application of certain nuclear sanctions suspended, but only in order to get our European allies to agree to fix the terrible defects of the nuclear agreement with Iran, this is the last chance,” Trump warned in an extensive statement.
Trump had already threatened last October to withdraw from the nuclear agreement with Iran if their “shortcomings” were not corrected, either through negotiations with other signatory countries or unilaterally, through legislation of the US Congress.
A “SUPPLEMENTARY AGREEMENT”
Now Trump has promised that he will not remain in the pact if his European allies do not give in to his demands; what it hopes to obtain is a “supplementary agreement” to the one signed in 2015, which would only compromise the United States and some “prominent” nations of Europe, which it has not identified.
Three European countries (France, Germany and the United Kingdom) are part of the agreement signed in 2015 with Iran, which was also signed by the United States, Russia, and China. In addition, the European Union (EU) played an active role in the negotiations and the promotion of the pact.
What Trump wants, as a White House source explained to EFE, is that they commit themselves to “impose new multilateral sanctions if Iran develops or tests ballistic missiles, impedes inspections (of its nuclear facilities) or makes progress toward achieving of a nuclear weapon. ”
That agreement, Trump has specified, “should never expire,” unlike the 2015 agreement, which states that some of the restrictions imposed on the Iranian nuclear program will lapse after 10 to 25 years.
NEW SANCTIONS FOR “SERIOUS” ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Trump’s statements have received a sharp response from Iran, which has urged him to “fully comply” with the pact. “Trump’s policy and the announcement amount to desperate attempts to undermine a solid multilateral agreement,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The warning coincides with the announcement of new sanctions that are not related to the nuclear agreement, but with “serious” human rights abuses or the proliferation of weapons. They affect 14 individuals and entities in Iran, including the head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani.
As for the new sanctions imposed on Iran, they are in part a reaction to what Washington considers a harsh crackdown on this month’s anti-government protests, in which there have been about 20 deaths and a thousand detainees.
By sanctioning the head of the Iranian Judicial Branch, which is the brother of the Speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, the Trump government considers that it is “hitting the top of the regime” and has urged its allies to also increase their sanctions on Tehran.
