Donald Trump railed against it on the 2016 campaign trail. It’s been beaten to death by foreign policy hawks. And, of course, Republicans hate it: the Iran Deal. The stopgap measure the Obama White House employed to prevent another war in the Middle East was going to be violated by Iran. They’re a state-sponsor of terror, folks. Iran violating the agreements was not shocking. Guy has covered this mess of a deal extensively. From missile tests that were most likely a violation of the deal to clandestine efforts to acquire missile and nuclear parts, Iran wasn’t following the rules.
Flash-forward past Donald Trump’s shock win over Hillary Clinton in 2016, we’ve pulled out of the agreement—and nothing happened. No Armageddon. No retaliation. It was a bold move and one that faced immense opposition from everyone else. Last August, the Trump White House reinstated harsh sanctions on Iran, but now—there are rumblings that the administration could be caving to appease European allies who still want to do business with the country. Adam Kredo at The Washington Free Beacon has more:
The Trump administration is poised to offer a series of major concessions to Iran that will let it escape key economic sanctions that the administration once vowed would kick back into force in the next several days, according to multiple U.S. officials and administration insiders familiar with the state of play.
Senior State Department officials working on the Iran issue are said to have convinced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to permit Iran to remain connected to the international banking system, providing a key lifeline to Tehran as its economy teeters on the brink of collapse.
While President Donald Trump vowed to enforce a bevy of new sanctions, senior officials in both the State and Treasury Departments caved to pressure from European allies and Iran, officials confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.
Iran is now set to continue doing business on the international banking system known as SWIFT, sources said. Additionally, the Trump administration will grant waivers to several countries allowing them to continue purchasing Iranian oil, another concession that the administration once said would not take place.
These concessions, pushed by European allies seeking to keep doing business with Iran as the United States readies new sanctions on Nov. 4, have sparked outrage among Iran hawks on Capitol Hill and among some within the administration who have been pushing for a hardline on Iran.
We’ll keep you updated, but this is certainly not the best of developments. It’ll probably have to be revisited until after the midterms.