'The US Has a Strict Policy of Not Keeping Their Promises' – Journalist

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is continuing to adhere to its nuke-related commitments despite the US exit from the deal. President Trump at an earlier briefing announced the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement saying that the sanctions against Iran would now go into full effect.

Radio Sputnik discussed President Trump's decision with Ramin Mazaheri, PressTV's Chief Correspondent in Paris.

Sputnik: Despite the numerous pleas not to withdraw from the deal, President Trump did it anyway. Why has he taken this step? Was it to be expected?

Ramin Mazaheri: It’s something that definitely should have been expected. I certainly did. History shows that America has a very strict policy of not keeping its policies. We can look at North Korea; they made major steps towards dismantling their nuclear project. Many people will remember the famous video of them blowing up their cooling tower to officially shutter their nuclear plant. And the US did not ease up their sanctions, they did not allow food aid, they didn’t allow energy deliveries. And that’s why North Korea is pursuing their nuclear program today. So given that Iran is one of the chief ideological enemies of Washington, even if Hillary had won the whole world would have been surprised if the US kept this deal.

But Trump withdrawing really is not a surprise because during his election campaign he was amazingly open to diplomacy with many long-time US enemies including Russia, but he was extremely hardline against only two countries – Iran and Cuba. And the reason for this is that in American politics there is no pro-Iran lobby in the US which could push things in our favor. In the American political model lobbies are what drive policy. And furthermore there are numerous powerful anti-Iran lobbies which will push the system against Iran. Trump is not going to win any votes or gain any campaign financing by making peace with Iran.

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It would cost him dearly. So when we consider all of this animosity from the US, we really shouldn’t be surprised that Trump pulled out. Why should the US stay after all? They are ideologically opposed to Tehran. Washington is capitalist but they have no money at stake in Iran because they do no business, so that’s not a factor. Washington’s other driving ideology is imperialism and we see how Iran opposes with money and guns, American imperialist projects in Iran itself quite successfully and also in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, the whole region. Who else takes on the US so brazenly in 2018, but Iran? So there’s nothing pushing Washington in a pro-Iran direction. Washington does not have the benevolent, peaceful, politically modern ideology which could move it away from this belligerence. So Trump really fits right in with long-time US policy towards Iran.

Sputnik: What response can we expect from Tehran after Mr. Trump decided to pull the country from the deal? Iranian lawmakers are introducing a motion that calls for “proportional and reciprocal action by the government.” How do you think the situation will develop?

Ramin Mazaheri: Rouhani put it rather perfectly. He said for 40 years this is what the US does, they don’t comply, they are aggressive towards Iran, they’ve done nothing which would benefit the Iranian people which they claim to support, which nobody really believes in Iran. Americans don’t like to hear that and Rouhani is not a hardliner and he is the one saying that we can’t trust the US and that’s exactly what the so-called hardliners say that the US can’t be trusted.

And the so-called hardliners are the only guilty of studying history. And they’re going to get more influence because of this. My point here is that very few people in Iran and seemingly no one at any level of government in Iran is deluded into thinking that smiling Obama or unpredictable Trump doesn’t represent the exact same system which is anti-Iran, pro-imperialist, anti-socialist, totally opposed to Islamic democracy and have been for 40 years. This is a continuation of policy, Trump isn’t new.

The bottom line is that you’re going to get burned so many times before you start being surprised that the fire is hot and the Iranian government learned this lesson long ago. They have put backup plans into place and the economic deals with France and Italy and others in Europe are the obvious proof of that. So there really is no choice with Tehran because the Iranian people support the Iranian system massively in a huge democratic majority and they wouldn’t tolerate the pro-imperialist moves which are the only things that would facilitate a genuine rapprochement with Washington. The Iranian people they didn’t fight a war with Iraq, they didn’t have a popular revolution to all of a sudden ally with the United States. So it’s going to be business as usual in Iran.

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The sanctions will make business harder and that’s what they do, but Iran is not the only country which deals with truly murderous sanctions from the United States. It’s certainly going to be nothing that the Iranians are not used to. We had hoped for better but we’re glad to see that five out of the six of the signatories are still there. Tehran doesn’t have to have great relations with everyone but we do need somebody other than for example China and Russian because that’s just business you need to have multiple suppliers. You can’t have one supplier because they’re going to have you over a barrel and Europe needs Iran for the same reason. Europe cannot only rely on Russian oil. They need Iranian oil, they need diverse suppliers. Iran is not Cuba or North Korea, there are obviously many similarities. Because Iran has so many natural resources. Iran is so blessed by nature to have so many natural riches and that gives them a much higher sense of attractiveness of Europe to break with Washington.

Europe is not going to break with Washington over Cuban nickel and Cuban sugar. And they’re not going to break with Washington over North Korea, there’s no trade there. They might break with Washington over Iranian oil and this is something that we just have to wait and see and just to wrap it up Europe has shockingly put in legal structures in place to protect their trade and now we’ll see if they follow through with it.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.