No Light at End of JCPOA Tunnel for Iran Regime
NCRI – Donald Trump’s firing of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was shocking for the Iranian Regime, as evidenced by their reactions last week, but for those watching the Trump White House closely this was to be expected.
After all, Trump had been very clear about his differences with Tillerson on matters of foreign policy, especially over the Iranian nuclear deal, and with Trump’s final deadline for the deal coming up in May, it may have been a choice between keeping Tillerson or scrapping the deal.
Thus Trump, a vocal opponent of the deal, has selected Iran sceptic CIA Chief Mike Pompeo as his next Secretary of State, which makes many believe that Trump will pull out of the Iran deal on May 12, which will cause chaos for the Iranian Regime.
Of the firing, Trump said: “When you look at the Iran deal, I think it’s terrible. I guess [Tillerson] thought it was okay. So we were not really thinking the same. With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. I think it’s going to go very well.”
What will Iran do?
The Iranian Regime is now facing an uncertain future, so what will they be attempting to do over the next few weeks?
Well human rights activist Heshmat Alavi writes that they may attempt to save face by threatening to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), themselves.
Make no mistake though, the Iranian Regime is terrified by this development, which is why Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has hit out at Trump, calling him unpredictable and unreliable, and why the Iranian state-run news agencies are running panicky stories about the deal.
The Iranian Regime brought this upon themselves though, by violating the nuclear deal and refusing to accept concessions brought by diplomats previously, including French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. Now they must face new non-nuclear sanctions and the possibility of existing nuclear ones being enforced again.
So, the question is, will the Iranian Regime agree to fix the flaws in the deal in order to keep it intact?
Likely no. The Iranian Regime is incapable of change and has already made clear that they will not agree to restrictions on their ballistic missile programme and their military aggression or even improvements to their human rights situation.
Thus, these tough moves on Iran by the US and (hopefully) the rest of the world, will further embolden the Iranian people in their ongoing anti-regime protests, which will allow the people to take control.
Alavi wrote: “Khamenei is now facing numerous such hurdles. Iran curbing its ballistic missile program and Middle East malevolence will most likely result in the West stating demands on its human rights dossier. And with Iran’s protests gaining momentum, there is no light at the end of this tunnel for Khamenei and his regime.”