Trump's withdrawal from Iran deal far more consequential than many realize

May 12, 2018By Rick Moran

If you've been following the reaction in the press to Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, you would think the most important issue is war or peace with the Iranians.  Scuttling the deal, many are saying, will force Iran to "restart" its nuclear enrichment program (that it only paused anyway), which will force the U.S. to engage Iran militarily to stop the Iranians.

Whether Iran goes back to open enrichment of uranium is not the primary question.  What matters is that exiting the deal leaves the U.S. perfectly free to ratchet up the pressure on an already feeble Iranian economy and openly assist elements in Iran who want regime change...........

The reasons why the E.U. was so eager to sign off on a flawed deal were entirely commercial. This was made evident in the weeks and months immediately following the agreement's implementation. Dozens of contracts were signed between some of Europe's biggest companies and the Iranian government, suddenly flush with a hundred billion dollars in unfrozen assets. Lifting the sanctions also opened the door for companies around the world to do business with Iran.

The E.U. is now trying desperately to salvage something of the deal, but one might ask, why?  As the Foreign Policy article points out, the U.S. reimposing sanctions will destroy the new commercial ties between Iran and the E.U. even if the Europeans keep the agreement in place.

Trump has hinted that if Iran begins industrial-scale nuclear enrichment, all options are on the table............Read more