Last week Pence demanded Europe Must Withdraw from Iran Nuclear Deal.
I seldom cheer anything the EU does or says but their response to Pence was on the mark. His Calls to Pressure Iran Fall on Deaf Ears in Europe.
World leaders gathered at the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday to debate a range of issues from the Middle East, to trade, Europe’s future and cyberwarfare. Speaking at the conference on Saturday, Mr. Pence, who is on a diplomatic trip to Europe, said the European Union should follow the U.S. in leaving the Iran nuclear deal.
Echoing comments he made earlier this week at a Polish-U.S. conference in Warsaw, Mr. Pence said “the time has come for our European partners to stop undermining U.S. sanctions” on Iran. “The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel set out a starkly different vision from the vice president, urging greater European and multilateral cooperation on major challenges and raising questions about recent U.S. decisions like the planned drawdown of troops from Syria. She lamented the split between the U.S. and Europe on Iran and raised common European and U.S. worries about Iran’s role in Syria and Yemen and its missile program.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, following his meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, that Europe needs “a constructive dialogue with Iran” on Syria and Yemen.
On Friday, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the Iranian nuclear deal, which saw Iran accept strict but temporary demands on its nuclear activities, was “fundamental and crucial for our security.”
“You can count on the fact that the European Union” will continue to preserve “the full implementation of the” deal.
[Mish translation: Go to Hell]
On Sunday, Mr. Zarif slammed the Warsaw conference, which included senior officials from the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East, like Israel and Saudi Arabia, but was boycotted by Russia and included only midlevel officials from many European countries. He said the U.S. was leading a coalition “of the unwilling and the openly coerced.”
EU Moves to Block Sanctions
On January 29, Europe announced announced a payment system in Euros to avoid US dollar clearing and US sanctions. The Wall Street Journal reported Europe Opens Channel for Trade With Iran.
France, Britain and Germany, defying threats from Washington, are this week executing their plans to set up a special-payments company to secure some trade with Iran and blunt the impact of U.S. sanctions.
After months of delays, people familiar with the plan said Tuesday the three European governments had started the process of registering the company to run a payments channel that would allow goods to be bartered between European and Iranian companies without the need for direct financial transactions. The company should be established by Thursday or Friday, [Jan 31 or Feb 1] the people said.
The company is being registered in France and will be headed by a German official with the French, British and German governments as shareholders—an arrangement intended to ward off U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s threat of sanctioning the entity by putting it under the aegis of Washington’s traditional European allies.
The move is the first action by French President Emmanuel Macron to hit back at President Trump as U.S.-French ties have turned frosty.
The European Union promised to create what is known as the special-purpose vehicle as part of efforts to persuade Iran to remain in the 2015 nuclear deal following President Trump’s decision in May to pull the U.S. out of the accord and reimpose sanctions. When many smaller member countries expressed reluctance to host the company or participate directly as shareholders because of U.S. sanctions threats, the bloc’s three biggest powers proceeded with the project.
Symbolic Gesture of the Real Deal?
I suspect many if not most large EU companies that deal with the US will be reluctant to use the mechanism. But some smaller one will. And as far as I am concerned, the more the better.
After all, the UN and US European allies concluded Iran was honoring the nuclear accord.
Act of War
Sanctions on countries are an act of war.
It is clear the Trump administration is itching to start a military war with Iran. When Iranians replied “Death to America” or whatever, how can anyone blame them?
Trump fired an economic missile at Iran. When Iran responded with mere words, Trump, Pence, and John Bolton all pounded their chests and said “See, this is what Iran does”.
Trump seeks to undo the one and only major accomplishment of the Obama administration, a nuclear accord and peace agreement with Iran.
How pathetic.
Even if I agreed with Trump about the dangers of Iran, one person should not get to decide sanction policy for the entire world.
Three cheers to the EU for standing up to blatant Trump administration arrogance.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Europe is in a bind since it recently accepted a whole bunch of middle eastern immigrants, and finances are tight.
Pence and his ilk are upset that Hezbollah thwarted their plans for regime change in Syria. Without Hezbollah on the ground Russia in the air, another domino would have fallen to the ISIS golem.
The only nice thing about this agitation is that it makes it much more difficult for Trump’s remaining “4D chess” crowd to pretend he’s dialing back the war machine. As soon as any shots are fired in Venezuela, Iran, or any other new theater, that narrative gets blown to smithereens. How could peace possibly be the plan with people like Bolton, Pompeo, and Abrams in the mix?
They’ll believe no matter what. To do otherwise would be to admit they were swindled by a 2 bit reality TV huckster. The cult will not be swayed by actual reality, and will come to fetishize the heavily edited reruns of The Apprentice, mouthing the memorized dialog like a gregorian chant.
Let’s see.
Obama armed the Syrian rebels against Assad. Lots of lots of weapons flooded into Syria. Lots from Libya. Lots of those weapons somehow fell into ISIS hands.
ISIS (JV team) takes over 3/4 of Syria and 1/2 of Iraq on obama’s watch. Assad was about to fall. Obama can do nothing.
Obama’s “redline in the sand” was the dog-whistle for killing Assad on the now proven fake chemical attacks. But, that was even a step too far for the approval polls despite repeated calls from senior democrats (we came, we saw, he died…cackle…cackle…cackle) to bomb/kill him and for regime change.
Under Trump.
ISIS wiped out. Loss of all their entire caliphate. DJT calls for US forces to be completely pulled out of Syria with great pushback from the democrats.
And, somehow, Pence was “thwarted” for regime change in Syria…???
That is your logic?
If Trump cared about Americans, he would shut down all military bases outside the U.S, and cut the military budget to 200 billion.
2banana is the worst paid troll ever grace this site.. no one is that stupid posting trump destroy ISIS , and the constant blaming of obama as if it absolve trump of his stupid decisions , disregarding facts that trump order 2 missile strikes on syrian people because of fake chemical attack..
people with opposite opinion is not the problem , the problem here is paid astroturfer on the net that post govt narrative everywhere they go..
Yep, Obama started the ball rolling on regime change in Syria. However, while Trump keeps saying he wants to pull troops, he hasn’t done so, plus he’s launched multiple strikes in the country. The Uniparty wants war to roll on, and that includes Pence and all the hawks Trump surrounds himself with.
If you believe the allegations of chemical attacks by Assad are fake (I do too) how can you defend Trump’s “Animal Assad” rhetoric plus the missile strikes? Is it just more 4D chess? What about Ivanka’s crocodile tears?
Also, the weapons didn’t “somehow fall into” ISIS hands, they were given to them intentionally. ISIS is our baby and seems to have three masters in the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
As usual, you only see half the picture. There’s no Uniparty in your eyes, just angelic R’s and demonic D’s.
Let’s not forget which countries presidential candidates tripped over themselves to see which one could promise to carpet bomb and make the sand glow on the most countries.
Mish – words have meaning. Try to be accurate and not part of the fake legacy media.
Obama creating a secret scheme without the approval of the US Senate or Congress is not an “accord” – it is back room deal with no authority, no legal standing and no future president has any kind of responsibility to uphold it.
An “accord” is an official agreement or treaty.
No they are not. Sanctions have been part of modern trade and diplomacy since the 1700s. No one thought Japan was at war with America in the 1970s with 100% tariffs on imported cars, no one thought China was at war with USA for banning any imports of cars and no one thought Britain was at war with Italy with sanctions for the their invasion of Ethiopia in the 1935.
Taking over embassies, bombing other countries and assassinations or attempted assignations of legal/nationally recognized leaders of sovereign countries are acts of war. See what America did in Syria, Yemen and Libya for a further explanation.
Well – he better get cracking. So far, all Trump has done is push for the American military to get out of Afghanistan and Syria. With great opposition from the democrats. For someone so “itching” – he sure is taking his sweet time. When does “itching” turn into “not going to happen?”
There is that word again. It is obvious you like it even though you have no idea what it means. Peace agreement? Do you really think there is a peace agreement/treaty with Iran? Hint: Go look up what the definition of the word “treaty” is and the constitutional requirements that go with it.
“words have meaning.”
Yup. Just like they did to Humpty Dumpty.
sorry , no one is that stupid in defending trump except 2banana.. the most logical conclusion = 2banana a paid astroturfer assigned on this site to post pro trump narrative..
I don’t think it’s fair to compare one tariff to a full ban on any trade by others and conclude it is not an act of war. also, the accord was negotiated by the US, whether you like it or not. But it was a preliminary agreement indeed, not a full treaty yet. But would such an agreement not be valid, or something to keep your word on? I say it would be. Thus counting: you’re using straw man arguments there plus a game of semantics.
i agree. i’ve never seen a more arrogant u.s. making demands on europe. can only hurt relations going forward. this is not the way allies talk to each other
I think (hope) that this is seen as Trump trying to convince himself that he is important, and that all they need to do is wait it out for a sensible American President to undo this.
If Trump is re-elected then it will signal deep stupidity on the part of America and the World will start to seriously re-adjust and use us like the dumb big brother who is dangerous and so needs handled with care.
Who needs allies… we have Russia now! They have our best interests at heart!