Iran’s Ayatollah Says Europe Can’t Save Nuclear Deal
“You should give up hope on them over economic issues or the nuclear deal,” Ayatollah tells regime’s top brass
With US sanctions biting deep into Iran’s economy, country’s theocratic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has admitted that European countries cannot to save the 2015 nuclear deal, Reuters news agency reported.
“There is no problem with negotiations and keeping contact with the Europeans, but you should give up hope on them over economic issues or the nuclear deal,” Khamenei told President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet on Wednesday.
In early May, President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement, imposing new economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Last month, Trump slapped the regime with stiffer sanctions, which he described as the ‘most biting ever’, promising to ‘ratchet them up to yet another level’ in November.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed the US President for abandoning the agreement, vowing to stick to the pact made with the Islamic Republic. Despite promises of keeping the deal alive, The European Union, mainly Germany and France, has failed to stop the exodus of European companies ceasing commercial activity in Iran. France’s oil company Total, Germany’s engineering conglomerate Siemens and Denmark’s shipping giant Maersk are among the top investors to fleeing the country. Even the EU’s own lending arm, European Investment Bank, has refused to back Franco-German efforts to bankroll European business operations in Iran.
Meanwhile, Tehran’s growing economic woes are stirring further discontent against an already unpopular regime. Since January, ten cities—including the capital Tehran—have been hit by anti-government protests, with demonstrators explicitly calling for an end to the Islamic rule of the clerics who took power almost 40 years ago.
Faced with deteriorating economic situation, the Mullah regime has formed a circular firing squad, ‘firing’ one functionary after another. Reuters reported the regime’s efforts to scapegoat its top brass for the failing economy:
Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings against the education minister, adding to the pressure on Rouhani.
The move came only three days after lawmakers sacked the minister of economy and finance blaming him for the collapse of the plight of the rial and mounting unemployment. They had, weeks earlier, dismissed the labor minister.
Another motion, signed by 70 lawmakers, aims to impeach the minister of industry, mines and business. (…)
Iran’s official unemployment rate is 12 percent, with youth unemployment as high as 25 percent in a country where 60 percent of the 80 million population is under 30. The rial has lost more than two-thirds of its value in a year.
The latest statement from Iran’s Ayatollah shows that the grim reality may finally be dawning on Iranian ruling class. While the Trump administration is making concerted efforts to isolate the regime, the Franco-German duo of Merkel and Macron is failing on its promises to salvage the faltering economy, a precondition for Tehran’s supposed compliance.
It’s not that Europeans haven’t tried hard enough to come to the aid of the regime. Merkel flew to around the world scrambling for support to save the deal, courting China and warming up to the arch-rival Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The German Foreign Minister even proposed creating an independent European payment system to shield sanction-busting companies from the US Treasury. “That’s why it is indispensable that we strengthen European autonomy by creating payment channels that are independent of the United States, a European Monetary Fund and an independent SWIFT system,” Maas said. “Every day the deal is alive is better than the highly explosive crisis that would otherwise threaten the Middle East.”
All this hasn’t stopped the hemorrhaging of foreign investment from the country. As Germany’s state-run DW News admitted this week: “Europe has been scrambling to persuade Tehran to remain in the 2015 accord. But with European firms wary of far-reaching US financial penalties, it’s proving to be a challenge.”
The windfall from the 2015 Obama-Kerry deal has long subsided. Instead of investing those proceeds in the future of its people, the regime has been spending billions on military adventures in Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. But the time for ‘fun and games’ may be coming to an end for the clerics in Tehran. Just three months after President Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal, the Mullah regime finds itself politically destabilized and economically on the ropes.
Video: ‘Death To The Dictator,’ Protests Spread To Several Iranian Cities [August 2018]:
[Cover image via YouTube]
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Comments
Figured it out all by himself, did he?
Did he ever really think Europe would lose the American market just to keep the Iranian market? He was probably going Trump was bluffing or, more likely, that his ‘friends’ in the Democrat Party would take Trump down by now.
Perhaps we can start airdropping rope suitable for hanging all the pop brass in Iran?
not needed – the head choppers are always available
BTW the writer would be better with an editor.
“thinking Trump was bluffing”
Oops
Once the deal is officially dead, Iran will restart its suspended nuclear program, and go for the bomb. Everyone, especially Israel, will regret Trump’s decision, assuming it was actually his to make.
A -They were further along than they had indicated WHEN THEY MADE THE DEAL (based on the false progress data they asserted when making the deal). EVERYONE (especially BHO & Kerry) KNEW THIS.
B – THEY NEVER STOPPED – even once the deal was signed. The centrifuges never slowed down, the design team never stopped designing.
C – It OBVIOUSLY was “his to make”- the “Iran Deal” was an EXECUTIVE AGREEMENT – made by Obama. Similar to “Executive Orders”, they are only binding, until the Executive decides THEY NO LONGER ARE. This was not a “treaty”, as not ratified by congress – and was essentially worth only the paper it was written on. The deal “is officially dead” – WE ARE THE DEAL. EU was just along for the ride – and THEY (EU) were the ones to PROFIT FINANCIALLY FROM THE DEAL – NOT US.
D – In reality – the killing of the deal FREES ISRAEL to take action to assure their survival. At this point, Iran is back to being the “Pariah/Outlaw Regime” it was prior to the deal (and continued to be DURING THE DEAL and AFTER IT WAS SQUASHED). It is more likely, since they are dire enemies also – if Israel takes unilateral action against Iranian nuclear sites – it will be with OUR TACIT APPROVAL – and likely with intelligence, target packaging and ordnance PROVIDED BY US. And KSA will “turn a blind eye”, to Israeli aircraft passing through KSA airspace on their way to their targets. It is IN KSA’s OWN SECURITY INTEREST for Iran to NEVER GET NUKES.
“I’m not afraid of someone who wants nuclear weapons, I’m scared to death of the guy that WANTS JUST ONE.
R
knocking out Iran’s 40+ dams would take power away from their centrifuges, and add much more pressure to kill Iranian dictators. Both America and the Iranian people deserve satisfaction.
This is cute. You seem to think that the Iranian Nuclear Program was actually suspended. I guess that’s why we weren’t allowed to inspect it.
You also seem to think that they stopped “going for the bomb”.
Trump’s “decision” as you put it, was simply to recognize Reality. This is a harsh reality, but I think that living in Reality is always better than living in your version of cloud cuckoo land.
Exit question: Which of the three countries will grant the Ayatollah asylum?
France
Germany
Russia
f-wance
We already know that Israel can send teams in and take out nuclear sites anytime they want – They entered and left one of the regime’s most secret facilities completely undetected. They fly in and out of Syria at will with no response from the Iranian troops and the latest Russian anti-aircraft defenses (purchased with Obama money). And the regime will be more distracted by civil discontent than trying to amp up their nuclear program. Any retaliation from the Ayatollah is overstated at the least.
You re both naive and a fool if you think they ever actually stopped. What exactly do you think was going on at those military sites inspectors weren’t allowed to look at?
All of the other signatories and the UN’s IAEA agreed that Iran had suspended it nuclear development activity. All of them. The people claiming otherwise are the fake American neocons who are always pushing for war against everyone everywhere.
Stop listening to the lies. The lies got us into Afghanistan, and Iraq and Syria. The liars and their lies will give us a major war with Iran, which will crash the world economy.
The agreement with Iran was so faulty that it ensured that Iran would get nuclear weapons and we funded their development.
Tyrant Obama the Liar promised that the sanctions would be snapped back into place if Iran violated the agreement. Iran violated the agreement in the beginning by not providing the truth about their effort to develop nuclear weapons. Now it’s time to snap back the sanctions and you Progressive Fascists should the first to call for this in order to preserve Obama’s legacy.
With what money? Nukes are expensive. That’s the point of sanctions
And your comment presumes they ever really stopped. Very few people believe they did
among the top investors to feel the country
Sounds awfully “New Age” to me.
To be clear, legitimate economists (as opposed to Krugmans), have been warning for years that Iran was in an economic death spiral. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the USA or Europe (which does not ‘invest’ in Iran, but sells Iranians goods and services). The cause is simple: the theocracy reaps all the petrodollars and spends nothing on infrastructure. Further, the country is basically socialistic, with 80% of the capital intensive industries in the hands of the Revolutionary Guard, likely the least competent economic entity next to the mullahs themselves. As for the mullahs, the Ayatollahs ‘foundation’ has $80B squirreled away in European banks. The Obama bribe forestalled collapse as the population awaited improvements, however every single dollar disappeared. An estimated half to Hamas and Hezbollah, the rest presumably in the hands of the Ayatollah and his close circle.
Hence the continuous unrest for close to a year now.
Before a cancerous tumor can be seen on X-Ray or Cat Scan, or felt by the clinician’s hand it has to reach an approximate 2 billion cell size. In order to pronounce the host cured of their cancer, every last one of those 2 billion cancerous cells must be eradicated.
Ironically, 2 billion is also around the number of Muslims alive in the world today.
CAIR is suing the FBI and DHS to remove all anti terrorism programs claiming they unfairly discriminate against Muslims.
James Foley and the victims of the 9/11/2001 airliner hijackings could not be reached for comment.
Like the Tubercle bacillus is able to short circuit the human host’s defenses against its infectious presence in the human body, rendering the defense systems ineffective, CAIR is attempting to use the US legal system to aid and abet its murderous invasion.
The Chinese populations that fell under Islam’s sway were all converted to Islam in a single generation. The men were all killed, the women became concubines.
“When we are few among you and weak, we ask for freedom and tolerance, because that is your way. When we are many and strong we allow no freedom, nor grant any tolerance, because that is our way.”
Watching EU businesses ignore Merkel’s pleas to stand firm has brought a smile to my face. She tried to pull a Littlefinger and has been taught the true meaning of power:
https://youtu.be/OvkuePL7oDY
Guess the Europeans need to give them more than $20M more dollars to bribe them to pretend to stay in the deal.
Waiting for a comment from Obama and John Kerry about how Trump seems to be right once again. CNN will ask Stormy Daniels to comment.