Reason for Iranian antics: Frustration that U.K. may also pull out of Obama’s nuclear deal

Like a petulant child ....

Someone asked (in one of the threads about yesterday’s Iranian seizure of UK shipping vessels) why Iran was doing this. It appears a good ol’ fashioned temper tantrum may be the reason.

If there was ever any doubt that Obama’s Iranian nuclear deal was a disaster, we can now put that speculation to rest. Iran is desperate to save it.

'Hostile act': UK says ship seized by Iran was in Omani waters (Sky News)

quote:

---

A number of commentators have told Sky News that some of the reason for Iran's behaviour is frustration with the nuclear deal - which European powers are trying to save after the US pulled out.

Along these lines, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif has told Bloomberg: "If [the deal] is important for your security, then you have to invest in your security, you just don't get security by praying for it. You must invest; you must do what is necessary."

"And the Europeans need to take necessary action," he said.

"They have made a commitment in the deal that Iran's economic relations with the rest of the world will be normalised. They knew that the US would leave it. They know the US' impact on their economy, but they committed themselves to allowing Iran to sell oil, repatriate its money, have shipping, have insurance, and we have none of that.

"So they need to live by their commitment.[

---

Iran is now counting on Rand Paul and his allies to salvage Obama's disastrous nuclear deal (Washington Examiner)

quote:

---

During the Obama administration, Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, played John Kerry like a fiddle in negotiating a deal that provided the faltering regime hundreds of billions of dollars in money and sanctions relief, allowed them to develop ballistic missiles, did nothing to address human rights, helped Iran become a more pernicious conventional threat, all while enabling Iran to maintain a long-term glide path toward nuclear weapons.

---

quote:

---

Even after Trump pulled out of the deal, there was some hope among proponents of the agreement that they could essentially wait Trump out, keeping it warm enough in hopes that the next Democratic president would be able to resurrect it. The Trump administration has fed that hope at times by stopping short of "maximum pressure" by issuing various waivers from sanctions. However, the Trump administration has consistently been removing waivers and ratcheting up sanctions. Though some important waivers still remain, such as on civilian-nuclear cooperation, the trend is such that Iran clearly has lost faith that it will be able to pressure Trump through the old tactics.

---