Iran announces partial withdrawal from nuclear deal

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/middleeast/iran-nuclear-deal-intl/index.html

Rouhani said that from this week, Iran will keep its excess enriched uranium and heavy water, rather than sell it to other countries as previously agreed to limit its stockpile.

The President said drastic measures would be implemented unless the remaining signatories of the deal -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- eased restrictions on Iran's banking and oil sectors in the next 60 days.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Seems reasonable to develop nuclear technology as an insurance policy if the hillgooses of the western world come into power again anytime soon.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Trump put this chaos on the world himself. Iran would never have wavered in its commitments to the deal if Trump had not pulled the US out himself beforehand. Now the whole world is in deep danger.

[CumbrianLefty]

Nothing is more sinister about neoconservatives than their fetish for war with Iran.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It does illustrate the trust gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world: the former's constantly shifting its foreign policy, frequently from one extreme to the other.

Also, while as urutzizu rightly pointed out the U.S. moves have very bad effects on the Iranian economy, it won't weaken the regime, it'll accomplish the very opposite, like the enmity from Washington actually tightened Castro's grip over Cuba (for which reason Fidel was lukewarm, to say the least, about Obama's thaw). But it's convenient for the neocons to have a perpetual enemy like Iran, even though they're essentially doing Saudis bidding, as Tehran and Rihyad competed for the influence in the region. Saudis remains far bigger threat to the world than Iran, exporting their toxic brand of fanatical Islam everywhere, propping up terrorists around the world and destabilizing the region. Given all this, it's no wonder Tehran wants to have nukes (because let's not kid ourselves, it's not about Israel as some still claims. Iran wouldn't fire its nukes on Israel and the other way around. It's about the U.S. and the Saudis.)

[7,052,770]

This could go down as Trump's biggest f-up. For the sake of our Israeli allies, hopefully it won't.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I think it shows excessive certainty in a counterfactual to say that Iran "would have never wavered" without Trump pulling the US of the deal first, but if it had wavered then it certainly wouldn't have had nearly as many ready-made talking points for why it was doing so.

[JGibson]

Trump put this chaos on the world himself. Iran would never have wavered in its commitments to the deal if Trump had not pulled the US out himself beforehand. Now the whole world is in deep danger.

Excellent analysis on Trump's sabotage of the Iran Deal.

[Green Line]

Why would Iran bother staying in?  They're getting none of the benefits and still playing by the rules...  Trump is playing a short term game to punish Iran (God knows why).  His Iran foreign policy is easily the biggest blunder of this administration, and that is saying a lot.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

History repeats itself: Bush did the same thing by labeling Iran under Khatami as part of the axis of evil, rhetoric which pushed the country into a whipped up nationalistic rage for the following President. I don't trust the "reformers" of Iran by any means, but the Republican obsession with humiliating and isolating them so identifiable wingnuts can return is very gross.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Our invasion of Iraq versus North Korea not being invaded shows that we only invade countries that don't really have WMD.

[Beet]

Our invasion of Iraq versus North Korea not being invaded shows that we only invade countries that don't really have WMD.

Or maybe that we don't want to start a nuclear war.

[President Johnson]

This is probably Trump's biggest foreign blunder and will take decades to repair. Of course, the best thing would be if the Iranian people overthrow the regime, but I don't see this happening any time soon.

[Omega21]

This is probably Trump's biggest foreign blunder and will take decades to repair. Of course, the best thing would be if the Iranian people overthrow the regime, but I don't see this happening any time soon.

They already had an elected leader, but then America overthrew the democratically elected regime and installed the Shah, so in reality, it's not hard to see who was the cause of everything that has happened since.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

This is probably Trump's biggest foreign blunder and will take decades to repair. Of course, the best thing would be if the Iranian people overthrow the regime, but I don't see this happening any time soon.

They already had an elected leader, but then America overthrew the democratically elected regime and installed the Shah, so in reality, it's not hard to see who was the cause of everything that has happened since.

President of Iran is not a leader. He only wields as much power as the Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority in every area, allows him to have.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

This is probably Trump's biggest foreign blunder and will take decades to repair. Of course, the best thing would be if the Iranian people overthrow the regime, but I don't see this happening any time soon.

They already had an elected leader, but then America overthrew the democratically elected regime and installed the Shah, so in reality, it's not hard to see who was the cause of everything that has happened since.

President of Iran is not a leader. He only wields as much power as the Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority in every area, allows him to have.

I think he's talking about Mosaddegh.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

This is probably Trump's biggest foreign blunder and will take decades to repair. Of course, the best thing would be if the Iranian people overthrow the regime, but I don't see this happening any time soon.

They already had an elected leader, but then America overthrew the democratically elected regime and installed the Shah, so in reality, it's not hard to see who was the cause of everything that has happened since.

President of Iran is not a leader. He only wields as much power as the Supreme Leader, the ultimate authority in every area, allows him to have.

I think he's talking about Mosaddegh.

I'm a dumbass who should've picked up the distinction between "had" and "have".

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Our invasion of Iraq versus North Korea not being invaded shows that we only invade countries that don't really have WMD.

Actually I don't think the U.S. would've attacked North Korea if they were known not to have nuclear capabilities. Back in 1994, during the showdown, Clinton did briefly consider a military action, but changed his mind upon being advised by the military that while the U.S. and its allies would be victorious eventually, there's no way even a limited action wouldn't have escalated into a full-blown conflict in the peninsula, resulting in at least 100,000 American soldiers dead, not to mention millions of South Koreans and economic ruin. And this was when North Korea was actually isolated.

The same would probably go for Iran. Even with the regime's collapse, the U.S. would be locked in a bitter guerrilla war in a country that suits such kind of warfare perfectly (anyone claiming opponents of the regime would welcome U.S. troops as liberators is obviously a moron). So we're going to see serious, but indirect action, which, as pointed out above, may do harm to the state's economy in short term, but won't dislodge the regime.

It's kind of Orwellian that the extremists on both sides essentially are sustaining each other.

[Senator Incitatus]

Certainly the idea that Iran is doing this as a reaction to Trump's "aggression" sells the Iranians well short of their own intelligence and capacity as a second-tier world power. They are doing this because it makes them more powerful in the long run. They don't need any pretense for doing so, but they have timed their withdrawal advantageously.

[Meclazine for Israel]

This is probably Trump's biggest foreign blunder and will take decades to repair.

.....until his next thread on Atlas next week.

[GoTfan]

This means that Rouhani's moderates have essentially been discredited in the eyes of the Iranian populace, right?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

This could go down as Trump's biggest f-up. For the sake of our Israeli allies, hopefully it won't.

Why would Iran bother staying in?  They're getting none of the benefits and still playing by the rules...  Trump is playing a short term game to punish Iran (God knows why).  His Iran foreign policy is easily the biggest blunder of this administration, and that is saying a lot.

You both seem to be missing something here. You're writing as though you think  Trump is attempting to act with some long term strategic goal in mind (even if it may be one you don't agree with). That is not how Trump operates.

Trump does the Saudi's (who can pay him and his family) a favor by re-imposing sanctions on  Iran. And he gets some PR capital here in the US at the same time . And he gets to wreck something Obama did.  Win, win, win for Trump.

Sure, wrecking the Iran deal has a cost. He's spending US credibility and goodwill, and maybe peace and lives too. But Trump won't be paying those costs. Others will. Spending others capital for his own gratification while escaping personal consequences is what Trump does.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

The biggest thing that makes me worry about this is that if Iran goes ahead with nukes, then SA will be willed to the same openly. A region where Israel, SA, and Iran all have WMD is not going to be a paragon of stability.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I think it shows excessive certainty in a counterfactual to say that Iran "would have never wavered" without Trump pulling the US of the deal first, but if it had wavered then it certainly wouldn't have had nearly as many ready-made talking points for why it was doing so.

It's absolutely certain that Iran wouldn't have wavered this soon without Trump's decision to pull out.  The Iran deal was far from perfect, but the idea that returning to sanctions would cause Iran to change course in a desirable way was utterly idiotic.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

The only upside is the eternal embarrassment of the morons who insisted this warmongering scumbag was a "paleocon" despite all evidence to the contrary.