Rejection of Iran nuclear deal to open a Pandora’s Box
The 45th US President has kept his nation and the world on tenterhooks since assuming office with his sensational tweets, flip-flops on major issues, unbecoming loosely- uttered threats and stirring the controversy pot to boiling point almost daily. Forced or voluntary resignations of his senior staff, controversial views on white supremacy, the ‘fire and fury’ remarks on North Korea and vow to ‘totally destroy’ it, a dubious improvement on the ‘shock and awe’ phraseology of one of his equally undistinguished predecessors, have left politicians and commentators worldwide wondering. His presidency has been a roller-coaster ride, with little tangible achievement, other than raising questions even on settled issues. And his political inexperience no doubt holds out the unpleasant prospect of his serving more ‘over-peppered dishes’, until the still feeble voices in the US Congress questioning his competency grow in volume, frequency and intensity. But the world will hold its breath till then, if indeed it has any breath left.
Iran was also in Trump’s cross-hairs during his vitriolic raving against North Korea before the UN General Assembly last month, where he termed the 2015 nuclear deal, hammered out after 10 years of painstaking negotiations involving China, Russia, France, United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union, as ‘embarrassing’ and ‘a worst and most one-side transaction’. His logical follow up last Friday in arbitrarily refusing to re-certify the multilateral agreement and sending the issue back to Congress for renewing the sanctions lifted earlier within 60 days, will probably mean collapse of the deal in its present form, despite the unanimous and unambiguous disapproval of all the other involved parties, and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s unequivocal confirmation that Iran was adhering in letter and spirit to its part of the bargain. It would appear that Trump, failing on the domestic front, is typically seeking easy triumphs abroad, wooing his shrinking voter base and powerful AIPAC, and by accusing Iran of supporting terrorist groups and creating regional instability, appeasing Saudi Arabia and puppet-master, Israel. The major world powers must put their foot down to avert global political and economic instability.
