President Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. is pulling out of the ill-fated nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) made between Barack Obama and Iran. In doing so, unlike many EU nations and leftist politicians of this country, Trump made it plain that the U.S. will not be held hostage by those whose stated intent is the death of America.
As the President said, “America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction. And we will not allow a regime that chants ‘Death to America’ to gain access to the most deadly weapons on Earth.”
Many in the mainstream media and progressives claim that America has done a disservice by a President who does not keep his word. But could an agreement never voted on by Congress and backed by the $150 billion that JCPOA would have allowed to return to Iran’s clerical government to fund international terrorism have been anything but a disservice to American interest?
Former Pentagon official Michael Makovsky and now President and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America says no. Speaking of JCPOA he said:
“One of the worst, most misguided, most destructive international ‘deals’ in American history is now dead. Good. President Obama’s foreign-policy legacy, based in part on the flawed notion that ‘legitimate grievances’ against America were the fuel for the jihadist fire, has now been rejected. Good. The Trump administration now fully owns American foreign policy, and it’s now fully responsible for dealing with Iran.”
Several analysts on CNN and MSNBC argue that our withdrawal from the agreement sends a signal to North Korea that the U.S is not a reliable negotiating partner. That argument is flawed in several ways. North Korea is the one that must prove its reliability, not President Trump. In his dealings with both North Korea and Iran, he has proven that he understands who his loyalty belongs to – the American people who elected him to be their President.
By scrapping Obama’s ill-advised appeasement with Iran, Trump sends a message to the rest of the world. After years of unenforced redlines, and an unsigned agreement that passes as a nuclear treaty Trump’s decision promises a resolve that prevents a rogue state like Iran from holding the threat of nuclear annihilation over its neighbors.
The President focused the basic flaws of JCPOA and left the door open for starting over with an equitable treaty. He said that Obama’s agreement with Iran had three elements that made it a “very bad deal”: It ignored ballistic missile development; didn’t mandate inspections “anywhere, anytime”; and allowed restrictions on Iran’s enrichment program to lapse. President Trump said:
“In other words, at the point when the United States had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regime — and it’s a regime of great terror — many billions of dollars, some of it in actual cash — a great embarrassment to me as a citizen and to all citizens of the United States.”
Iran’s reaction to the announcement came as expected, they burned the American flag and chants of ‘death to America’ were broadcast on national television.
Whatever hope that existed an Iran deal would moderate its leadership should have evaporated by now. Since the signing of JCPOA Iran increased its military spending by over 40 percent. Instead of moderating over the last four years, the Islamic Republic accelerated its aggressive military stance and continued to target American troops.
Under John Kerry and Barack Obama, the United States absorbed one blow after another from Iran and its surrogates. Iranian weapons maimed and killed hundreds of American soldiers.
No nation in the last 75 years has taken more deadly action against the United States without a corresponding American response. Is it any wonder the regime thought it could dictate its own terms to John Kerry?
Conservatives can debate whether our troops belong in Syria or whether we should support Israel. There can be no debate, however, that as long as our troops and American business interests are in the region, appeasement to nations like Iran must end.
Before his announcement Trump tweeted John Kerry: “John Kerry can’t get over the fact that he had his chance and blew it! Stay away from negotiations John, you are hurting your country!”
How true, he and Obama are the ones who created this debacle in the first place!
~ American Liberty Report
