Iran nuclear deal teeters on brink: Europe, USA and Israel clash over 'worst deal ever'

President Donald Trump , who must make a decision by
mid-October that could undermine the agreement,
repeated on Thursday his long-held view that Iran was
violating “the spirit” of the deal under which Teheran
got sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear
program.
The Republican president has called the agreement,
struck under his Democratic predecessor, Barack
Obama, “the worst deal ever negotiated.”
The prospect of Washington reneging on the
agreement has worried some of the key US allies that
helped negotiate it, especially as the world grapples
with another nuclear crisis, North Korea's nuclear and
ballistic missile development.
“We all share US concerns about Iran's destabilising
role in the region, but by mixing everything up, we risk
losing everything,” said a senior European diplomat,
who was part of the 18-month negotiation process
that led to the accord.
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President Trump must decide in October whether to
certify that Iran is complying with the agreement,
known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA). If he does not, Congress has 60 days to
decide whether to reimpose sanctions waived under
the deal.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned
yesterday that Teheran would react strongly to any
“wrong move” by Washington on the nuclear deal.
At the UN General Assembly on Monday, Trump meets
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed by
French President Emmanuel Macron, who like Trump,
is making his inaugural appearance at the annual
gathering of world leaders.
Both have very different messages to deliver.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
“Our position is straightforward. This is a bad deal.
Either fix it – or cancel it. This is Israel's position,”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said in Argentina last
Tuesday as he toured Latin America.
Israeli officials said he would also relay concerns over
what Israel describes as Tehran's growing military
entrenchment in Syria and its post-civil war role in that
country.
They said changes that Israel was seeking in JCPOA
included lengthening the 10-year freeze on Iran's
nuclear development program or even making that
suspension permanent and destroying centrifuges
rather than temporarily halting their operation.
The deal was brokered by the United States, Russia,
China, Britain, Germany and France. The six will meet
with Iran at the ministerial level on Wednesday.
Paris took one of the hardest lines against Teheran in
the negotiations, but has been quick to restore trade
ties and President Macron has said repeatedly there is
no alternative to the deal.
French officials say Iran is respecting the JCPOA and
that were the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), which ensures its implementation, to say
otherwise, a mechanism exists to reimpose sanctions.
President Macron, who won praise from Trump while
hosting him in July at France's Bastille Day
celebrations, will warn him that weakening or
scrapping the deal would not only add fuel to a
regional powder keg but deter North Korea from
negotiating on its nuclear program, French diplomats
said.
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It would also signal the beginning of the end of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty, which entered into force in
1970 and is aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear
weapons and weapons technology, they said.
“We can always find legal arrangements to make it
look like the deal is still in place, but if the U.S. no
longer supports it politically, then the reality is that it
will be in serious jeopardy and its implementation will
be very difficult,” said a senior French diplomat.

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