Donald Trump signed MoU with Iran, but this deal has created a new storm in American politics. In 2018, Trump had broken Barack Obama's JCPOA, calling it 'the worst deal in history', but now under pressure from Iran, he himself has been forced to make an even weaker deal. Trump signed a 14-point MoU with Iran during the G7 summit held at Versailles Palace in France.
Soon after, the US naval blockade was lifted and Iranian oil tankers left for international markets. However, from the American media to Trump's own Republican Party leaders have reacted sharply to this deal. It is being alleged that Trump has 'surrendered' to Iran.
There is a huge difference between Obama's JCPOA and Trump's MoU. Obama's JCPOA was a detailed agreement of 150 pages, whereas Trump's MoU has only 14 points. In the JCPOA, Iran's nuclear program could have been monitored by the IAEA at any time, but Trump has left these technical conditions for later.
There was a condition in Obama's deal that Iran could not enrich uranium more than 3.67 percent, whereas there is no such limit in Trump's deal. Obama had set the condition of drastic reduction in Iran's centrifuges, while Trump seems to be agreeing to enrichment in Iran itself. Talking about the breakout time i.e. the time taken to make a nuclear bomb, Obama's deal had increased this time to more than 1 year, but in Trump's new agreement it is not clear how quickly Iran can make the bomb.
Obama's agreement included Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union along with America, but Trump's agreement is only between America and Iran. Looking at all these aspects, the question arises that whose agreement is stronger?
Trump made a scathing attack on Obama in the press conference after the MoU was signed. He claimed that Obama had given $1.7 billion in cash to Iran, which was sent to Iran in the form of green notes directly from the bank in a Boeing 757 aircraft. Trump said the Iranians laughed at Obama and called him a fool.
He also accused Obama of bribing Iran. However, critics say that Trump himself is now giving bigger concessions to Iran. Trump had opposed Obama's agreement in 2018 and called it 'terrible and one-sided', but now he has given unilateral relief by restoring Iran's oil exports.
Trump was calling Obama's agreement the worst deal because of restoring frozen assets, but now he is restoring Iran's frozen assets. Trump was saying about Obama's deal that money should not have been given to Iran, but now the talk of investment of 300 billion dollars is coming to the fore.
Under the new MoU, big relief has been given to Iran. The Trump administration has given Iran a free hand to sell crude oil. Apart from this, according to the Central Bank of Iran, approval has also been given to restore billions of dollars of Iranian assets seized in banks around the world. Not only this, during the G7 summit held in France, Trump had to give clarification on the huge global fund of 300 billion dollars being created for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran. The American media is raising questions as to why America had to give such huge economic concessions to Iran to avoid war?
While there is controversy in America regarding this agreement, there is an atmosphere of celebration in Iran's capital Tehran. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Kalibaf has openly claimed in an interview given on Iran's state television that at present the flag of victory of Iran is flying in the ongoing talks with America.
He said that the difference between the present conversation and the previous conversation is that today the flag of victory is flying in the field, which has been accepted by both enemy and friend. The mood of the newspapers being sold on the streets of Tehran also tells the same story. In the headlines of Iran's major newspapers, along with Donald Trump's picture, it is written in Persian 'Gone with the wind' i.e. the enemy has flown in the air.
Republican leader Nikki Haley and Senator Bill Cassidy have called this agreement 'the worst foreign policy in decades' and 'surrender to Iran'. They allege that the terms of this agreement are very vague and the Trump administration has lost the biggest pressure on America by giving financial relief to Iran just before the final talks. Senator Bill Cassidy called it a complete surrender to Iran, while Nikki Haley said it was the darkest chapter in the history of American foreign policy.
A fact-check report by CBS News has raised big questions on Trump's claims. In his press conference, Trump had proudly claimed that he had included the word 'Procure' along with 'Develop' in this agreement, so that Iran could not acquire nuclear weapons from any third country. But according to the report of CBS News, this thing was already included in Barack Obama's old deal of 2015 i.e. JCPOA with very strict rules.
That is, this new MoU of Trump seems to be just a juggle of words, because there is no blueprint in this 14-point document as to how it will be implemented on the ground.
The biggest contradiction is on the issue of ballistic missiles. In 2018, when Trump broke Obama's deal, his biggest argument was that there was no restriction on Iran's missiles. But today, even in Trump's own new MoU, no ban has been imposed on ballistic missiles.
Therefore, critics are now reminding Trump of his old statement of January 2020, in which he had said that Iran never won any war, but never lost the negotiation. Today, in this agreement in West Asia, Iran's diplomats have once again proved their old expertise.
On one hand the countries of Europe are scared, on the other hand Iran's newspapers are full of claims of victory. Iran's oil tankers have returned to sea routes again. According to Iran's government media, three big tankers carrying 5 million barrels of crude oil have crossed the Strait of Hormuz. It has also been claimed that at least 11 Iranian ships will resume maritime traffic immediately after the signing of the MoU. That is, the oil route by which Iran shocked the whole world, now Iran is showing the same oil route as a symbol of its economic comeback. This is Iran's victory.
-Bureau Report, TV9 Bharatvarsha
