Politics

16, May 2018

Bundes: Merkel joins European allies in reaffirming support for Iran nuclear deal ⁰

Germany has joined its European allies in reaffirming support for the Iran nuclear deal in defiance of the US that pulled out of the landmark agreement last week.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday pushed back against Washington’s rejection of the Iran nuclear deal, and reasserted a defense of the agreement in remarks to lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

She also said that Iran was complying with its commitments under the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“This agreement is everything other than ideal, but Iran is, according to all the knowledge of the international nuclear authorities, sticking to the commitments of the agreement,” Merkel said.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the JCPOA, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Britain, France, Russia and China — plus Germany in 2015.

Trump also said he would reinstate US sanctions on Iran lifted by the accord and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

The deal lifted sanctions in 2016 in return for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.

Iran has reiterated it would remain in the JCPOA for now, pending negotiations with the other signatories in the coming weeks before making a final decision on its future role in the agreement.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Brussels on Tuesday.

Following the meeting, Mogherini told reporters that European top diplomats had agreed to follow through the Iran nuclear deal despite Trump’s decision to withdraw.

To this end, the EU will launch intensive discussion at all levels with Iran in next few weeks, she said, adding that the discussion would focus on, among others, how to maintain economic relations and effective banking transactions with Iran in the context of renewed US sanctions.

“We are determined to ensure that the JCPOA stays in place. We know it’s a difficult task but we are determined to do that,” Mogherini said, adding, “We’ve started to work to put in place measures that help ensuring that this happens.”

She noted that similar willingness has been expressed by the European and Iranian sides.

Before visiting Europe, Zarif first traveled to China and later Russia, the two other signatory nations that have supported the JCPOA, on the first leg of his diplomatic mission.

Meanwhile, in their first meeting since the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, EU leaders are expected to meet to explore options on Wednesday for keeping the Iran nuclear deal alive and protecting their reviving economic cooperation with Tehran.

“I would like our debate to reconfirm without any doubt that as long as Iran respects the provisions of the deal, the EU will also respect it,” the chairman of the gathering, Donald Tusk, said before the meeting in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will also host Merkel on Friday to discuss, among other issues, the Iran deal.

Source: Presstv

16, May 2018

Scottish parliament decisively rejects May’s EU withdrawal bill ⁰

The Scottish parliament has decisively voted against the United Kingdom’s legislation on departure from the European Union (EU), placing London on course for a major constitutional dispute with Edinburgh and the further postponement of Brexit.

The Scottish lawmakers rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU Withdrawal Bill by 93 votes to 30 on Tuesday.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens backed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s party members in rejecting the divorce bill, arguing that it would restrict Holyrood’s powers.

The vote is not legally binding but it will force London to make a high-risk decision and assert power over Edinburgh or make further concessions to the Scottish government to avoid a crisis.

May’s disregard for the vote could fuel Sturgeon’s demands for a second referendum on Scottish independence and provide her Scottish National Party (SNP) with a further justification for staging one.

Britain has been at loggerheads with the devolved nations – Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales – on how power would be shared after the Britain’s separation from the 28-member bloc.

Speaking after the Tuesday vote, Scotland’s Brexit secretary Mike Russell, called on the UK government to respect the will of the Scottish parliament and find an acceptable solution.

“The Scottish Parliament has now said overwhelmingly that this attempt to undermine devolution is unacceptable,” he said. “The UK government cannot ignore the reality of devolution or try to drown out what this parliament says. They cannot pretend that no motion has been passed.”

A day earlier, Sturgeon warned London against ignoring the Holyrood’s views and said May needed to secure a deal with Edinburgh fast.

“They [UK government] have a decision to make as to whether they are going to ignore the views of the Scottish Parliament or listen to those views and try very hard to get a deal and to close the gap that remains between us,” she said.

In the United Kingdom’s 2016 referendum, 52 percent, or 17.4 million people, voted to leave the EU while 48 percent, or 16 million, voted to stay.

The British government has faced fierce criticism both at home and by the EU for its lack of clarity on its Brexit strategy.

The uncertainty has raised fears that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a trade deal, incurring heavy costs on its domestic economy.

London and Brussels are due to move on to the next stage of Brexit negotiations this year, after reaching agreement in December on exit terms.

Source: Presstv

14, May 2018

Algeria dismisses Morocco’s new claims of backing Polisario ⁰

Algeria has roundly rejected and denounced fresh claims by the Moroccan foreign minister that it played an “operational” role in alleged Iranian support for a pro-independence Western Sahara movement.

Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s top diplomat, had told the French-language Jeune Afrique weekly news magazine that Algiers offered more than a meeting venue for members of the separatist Polisario Front and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

He had claimed that “Algeria has given more than its blessing. It has given an opening, backing and operational support.”

Rabat has accused Iran of using Hezbollah to support Polisario, a claim Tehran has sharply dismissed.

“Algeria strongly condemns and deplores the statements made by the Moroccan foreign minister in an interview, released yesterday in a Paris magazine,” the Foreign Ministry in Algiers said in a statement late on Sunday.

Algiers has criticized Rabat for not providing any evidence to support its claims, adding it continuously makes up “stories.”

Earlier this month, Morocco severed its diplomatic relations with Iran, with Bourita accusing Tehran and Hezbollah of training and arming Polisario members via the Iranian Embassy in Algeria.

Algeria, Iran and Hezbollah were all quick to reject the claims as baseless back then.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said there was no cooperation between Tehran’s diplomatic mission in Algiers and the Algeria-backed movement.

Hezbollah also blamed the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia for the diplomatic tensions, saying Rabat cut ties with Tehran under pressure from the trio.

In turn, Algeria summoned Morocco’s ambassador to protest the “unfounded” claims.

Rabat annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975, and has since then been in conflict with Polisario, which demands a referendum on self-determination and independence.

The movement, which aims to end Morocco’s presence in the Saharan region, recently said they sought to set up a “capital” in the region, prompting Rabat to caution it would respond with force.

Source: Presstv

13, May 2018

On Biya regime’s determined attempt to mislead Cameroonians on the killings of soldiers ⁰

In the early hours of Saturday the 12^th of May 2018, a military truck transporting some elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion reportedly had an accident around the Atlantic Beach entrance in Limbe. 30 soldiers were killed and dozens injured. The Francophone dominated army had before the accident ordered Southern Cameroons civilians to evacuate the area.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the soldiers left their base and were en route to Muyuka to crush the attacks on the gendarmerie post when their vehicle crashed. French Cameroun army sources say the accident was caused due to over speeding. However, our chief correspondent in the Southern Zone, Sama Ernest who is also very experienced in intelligence gathering has gotten reliable information that the Limbe Atlantic Beach accident was staged by the military.

In an interview he had with a senior Francophone military official in Limbe who sued for anonymity, the officer wondered aloud on the numerous “lie telling competition” going on deep within the Cameroon army. “These days the army kills its own and say it was a motor accident’ he pointed out. He said the Cameroon military high command was not telling the truth to the Cameroonian people. He admitted that soldiers were being killed by the Southern Cameroons restoration forces at an alarming rate but the army was maintaining a kind of silence of the lamb.

Questioned on the diabolic harsh ploy by the army against the people of Southern Cameroons, he bolted and claimed he did not understand English properly. Some sources have maintained the view that the army is afraid to tell the truth as it may generate an uprising in East Cameroun. The Biya regime plans to make public the names of some of the soldiers killed in the Southern Cameroons war this coming week and we understand the list will be linked to the Limbe accident.

Elsewhere, there was an attack at the Gendarmerie post in Yoke, Muyuka and the Southern Cameroons freedom fighters made away with ammunition. Two days ago, they attacked the Muyuka police head office and freed all detainees.

By Rita Akana with files from Sama Ernest in Fako County

11, May 2018

Why is President Trump supporting failed and rogue states like La Republique du Cameroun? ⁰

Cat calls have greeted the recent US military donations to La Republique du Cameroun. The Southern Cameroons political leadership has refused to comment on the combat aircrafts donation from the Trump administration to the butchers in Yaoundé. However, many of the Ambazonian political elites contacted by Cameroon Intelligence Report opined that the United States was appearing like an intransigent rogue state pursuing only its own interests at the expense of human rights and freedom and has blatantly refused to push the Paul Biya Francophone regime to curb attacks in Southern Cameroons.

To be sure, the US won’t deploy carrots or sticks to even stop the genocide currently going in Southern Cameroons and it won’t scold the French Cameroun political leadership for crackdowns against innocent Southern Cameroons civilian population. Interestingly, US President Donald Trump just this week cancelled the historic nuclear deal with Iran and reiterated that it was a bad deal. But to hand over two aircrafts to the regime in Yaoundé with the potential to scan and detect enemy hideouts is completely unacceptable to the people of Southern Cameroons.

The Biya regime does not have the cash to pay for such sophisticated aircraft so the argument that US weapon donation to French Cameroun is largely about relations with France is legitimate. But the truth is that, US behaviour too is about more than just money. The US actually has a soft spot for countries that buck the international system, oppress and murder their citizens, and threaten regional stability. A good example is the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime that has been in power for 36 years and has contributed in destabilizing the Central African Republic and creating many Cameroonian military billionaires. This recent US military gesture to the 86 year-old French Cameroun dictator is an indication that the US in the end, needs rogues.

For decades the US backed the Mobutu Sesekou regime in Congo-Kinshasa which killed more than two-thirds of the country’s political elites. The US continues to support President Denis Sassou Ngessou of Congo-Brazzaville and today it’s the turn of the French Cameroun thug, President Biya who is killing Southern Cameroonians in a monstrous ideological genocide.

Towns and villages have been burned by Francophone army soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons. Teachers, lawyers, businessmen including women and children are being murdered to make French Cameroonians the only owners of the Ambazonian ancestral land a reality all with the backing of the USA. Southern Cameroons schools and hospitals have been closed, as well as Southern Cameroons banks including service companies. Some 40,000 Southern Cameroonians have fled the conflict into neighboring Nigeria.

Over the last two years, the Francophone dominated government in Yaoundé has overworked and is starving the Southern Cameroons population, at the same time exterminating selected groups who they believe are enemies of the French Cameroun state or have the potential to undermine the French Cameroun political leaders. People who the French Cameroun armies perceive as Ambazonian leaders or even those who disagree with the military campaign have also been killed.

A sea of Southern Cameroonian women and children were killed in Kembong, Kwa Kwa, Belo, Kendem, Batibo, Ndian, Nguti, Muyenge for attempting to escape from the French Cameroun military onslaught. A majority of those caught in the Manyu and Lebialem Counties were taken quietly off to a distant forest between Numba and Kendem and were killed. The fiercest extermination campaign is taken place in Calabar and Ikom in the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the complete and total support of the Buhari administration. Southern Cameroonian civilians have suffered the biggest death toll (over 1,500) have been killed so far with the UN registering some 21,291 as refugees in Nigeria.

Family relationships including those residing in the USA can no longer send money back home to loved ones and family members are being arrested and jailed for communicating with those in the Diaspora. The US embassy in Yaoundé noted that the aircrafts were to fight the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. However, the Francophone Minister for Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo pointed out that the war machines will also be used to fight other related crisis.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

11, May 2018

Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Briefing: Tall on details, Heavy on substance ⁰

My fellow Ambazonians and people of the world, in mid-March 2018, Acting President Samuel Sako of our Interim Government in Exile (IG) convened in the United States of American with self-defense groups throughout our territory, consulting with their leaders to adopt a statement and action plan that established an independent self-defense wing of our liberation war—the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council (ASC). Under the new framework, all self-defence activities across the territory of Ambazonia are conducted under the general name Ambazonia Self-Defence Council’s Restoration Forces (ASC/RF).

Tonight, I want to address three categories of audiences that are stakeholders in the Ambazonia Liberation War. Specifically, I want to speak with our freedom fighters on ground zero, the people of Ambazonia on ground zero and worldwide, and the international community in the context of self-defence toward achieving Ambazonia statehood.

To our freedom fighters

We should have but one desire today: the desire to fight so that Ambazonia may live free—the willingness to face a martyr’s death, so that the path to freedom may be paved with martyrs’ blood. Friends! my comrades in the War of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above all. I demand of your loyalty and self-discipline. The blood of our heroes cannot go in vain. Their blood has paid the price of our freedom. Therefore, we cannot give up, we have to fight, fight, and fight till we reach BUEA. We must live Free or Die.

We, the citizens of Ambazonia, are now joined in a great national effort to defend our people, and our property, and to protect our interests against the illegal occupation, administration, and exploitation by President Paul Biya’s regime of La Republique du Cameroun (LRC), a neigbouring country, since 1961. Our ultimate goal is to take full control of our territory as defined and recognized under international treaties and to restore Ambazonia’s promise of sovereignty and freedom to all of our people.

Together, we will achieve our unconditional sovereignty, determine the future of Ambazonia, and join the international community of nations.

To the people of Ambazonia

Whether you are in the homeland, residing abroad, or homeless in some country seeking refuge—rest assured we will soon celebrate our freedom and independence in Buea. But freedom does not come free. We must fight for our freedom with everything we have, even our own lives, and win it from those who would take it from us or deny us our right to live. We must defend our God-given right of existence. God is with us and freedom is ours if we stand with each other. Together in this fight for freedom, no power can stop us—not the helicopter gunships, nor the state-sponsored terrorists of Paul Biya. Together we shall beat down any mountain that stands in the way of our freedom.

By now, you must know at least one village person who has been brutally killed, beheaded, executed, abducted, burnt alive, tortured for ransom, maimed, or otherwise suffered human rights violation by La Republique du Cameroun’s government forces. The message is clear, and the meaning is simple: Act now and act fast. You must associate yourself with your village or community groups and support self-defence. Not taking action is not an option. President Biya and his government have made this clear—he has declared war on us, deployed troops to our territory, and killed our people. They will kill all of us. Therefore, we must defend ourselves until such a time when the international community takes concrete action to hold President Biya and his government accountable for all crimes against the people of Ambazonia.

We need you—we need everyone. Support in any form takes us closer to victory. Take heart, look up to God and have faith. There is no second thought, my country people: the time is now. If you do not support the self-defence, armed soldiers and paramilitary forces of LRC will mercilessly kill your loved ones and family members at home or burn your house or loot your property. Here is a mantra, a short one that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is: ‘Do or Die’. We shall either free Ambazonia or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery. Every true Ambazonian man or woman will join the struggle with an unbreakable determination not to remain alive to see the country in bondage and slavery. Let that be your pledge.

To the international community

Thank you to the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France for condemning the barbaric offenses of President Paul Biya’s regime against our people since our decades long peaceful protest heightened in late 2016. Thank you to the secretariats of the African Union, United Nations, European Union, and Commonwealth for urging the Biya regime to negotiate a political settlement with the Ambazonian people. Your leadership and actions are highly appreciated. Why is it that, for half a century, we have never heard voices from the international community speaking out against the suppression and tyranny of La Republique du Cameroun authorities? Why is it that we have not witnessed international condemnation of the systematic disregard for our basic rights and values, and forced assimilation into a union between two countries and two peoples with distinct cultures, ways of life, and irreconcilable differences?

We can no longer remain on our knees with our hands clasped together, begging for basic freedoms and opportunities in a God-given land and internationally-recognized territory to survive, when all that we get in return is killing, maiming, abduction by armed soldiers and security forces of La Republique du Cameroun. We can no longer bury our youths in vain, we can no longer watch our girls and mothers raped before us, we can no longer watch our grandparents burnt alive in their homes, we can no longer continue to exist as refugees in foreign countries without a place to call home because of a union forced upon our ancestors. We have therefore decided to stand up for our rights, fight for our freedom, and guard our homeland.

On November 30, 2017, President Paul Biya of neighboring LRC declared war against the territory of Ambazonia, a clear confirmation that Ambazonia and the LRC are two different countries and two distinct people. The silence and inaction of the citizens of LRC is further testimony that they are different from us and that we are two different people in different territories. Since that day, LRC’s elite forces continue to use war equipment to carry out mass killings, executions on the spot, beheadings, and burning of communities—all of which have created huge humanitarian consequences in neighboring countries like Nigeria. We have therefore come to the conclusion that no one can defend us except us. And we will defend our land till the last man falls down.

Looking forward, this is the position of the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council. The only competent authority to call for a cease fire across the Ambazonia territory is the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. A peaceful exit strategy out of the ongoing Biya-declared war will come from the voice of either the United Nations Security Council or of a member state coming before it and demanding a referendum for the people of Ambazonia on our side to exercise our freedom of sovereignty.

In conclusion, the American people have shown the world that democracy and individual liberty provide the conditions in which knowledge progresses, science discovers, innovation occurs, enterprise thrives and, ultimately, people advance. This is the kind of democracy and values we envision, and for which we are fighting, for Ambazonia.

In due course, as the spokesperson of ASC, I or the deputy will issue regular statements and brief the media as need arises on the status of the self-defence activities and significant developments in our war of liberation.

By Nsoh Foncha

11, May 2018

Trump picks veteran diplomat Tibor Nagy for top Africa post ⁰

President Trump has nominated a career diplomat with extensive experience in Africa to lead the State Department bureau focused on the sub-Saharan region.

Mr Trump also on Thursday formally submitted to the US Senate his choice of Kyle McCarter as the next US ambassador to Kenya.

YAMAMOTO

Tibor Nagy, a former US envoy to Ethiopia and Guinea, will take over as assistant secretary of state for Africa if the US Senate clears his nomination in the coming weeks. Donald Yamamoto has been holding that position on an interim basis since last September.

Mr Nagy, who also worked in US embassies in Zambia, Seychelles, Togo, Cameroon and Nigeria, is unlikely to encounter significant opposition, having compiled a long record of service under both Democratic and Republican presidents.

His nomination, along with that of Mr McCarter, was welcomed by a Democratic senator, Chris Coons, who pays close attention to African issues.

At the same time, however, Senator Coons called attention to the Trump administration’s seeming political indifference toward Africa and its delay in naming nominees to key Africa positions in the US government.

“Simply put, the United States and the Trump administration must do a better job of engaging on this critical continent, and I’m hopeful that these two nominees will prove that they are the right people for that important task,” Senator Coons said.

Mr Trump had reportedly been leaning toward a different Africa specialist, J Peter Pham, as his first choice for the State Department job once held by former ambassador to Kenya Johnnie Carson.

GODEC

Prof Pham, a scholar at a Washington think tank, had his nomination blocked behind the scenes by a powerful Republican senator, partly due to a dispute over US policy toward Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara.

That same Senator, James Inhofe, on Thursday hailed the choice of Mr Nagy.

“I am confident that Ambassador Nagy, with Secretary of State Pompeo and President Trump, will be highly successful advancing an ‘America First’ policy of mutual respect, trade and cooperation. I look forward to his swift confirmation in the Senate,” Inhofe said.

Mr McCarter, a Republican member of the Illinois state legislature, would succeed Robert Godec in the Nairobi post if confirmed by the Senate. Mr McCarter has long been involved in charitable causes in Kenya and is a fluent Swahili speaker.

Source: Daily Nation

10, May 2018

Secession Palaver: Spain blocks second Puigdemont comeback bid in Catalonia ⁰

Spain’s government on Wednesday stepped in to block Carles Puigdemont from being re-appointed president of Catalonia, pressuring the separatist camp to pick another candidate and form a regional government after months of limbo.

Protesters hold a framed picture Catalonia’s self-exiled ousted president Carles Puigdemont during a demonstration in Barcelona on May 2, 2018. (AFP)

Madrid successfully requested the Constitutional Court to cancel a reform voted for last week by Catalonia’s majority separatist parliament that would allow Puigdemont to be appointed president without having to be present.

The court announced on Wednesday evening it had ruled “admissible the appeal of the government” and suspended the reform, which had been temporarily blocked while the court deliberated.

Government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said earlier the Catalan parliament would not be able to call a session to appoint Puigdemont “at the risk of committing the offence of disobedience”.

Puigdemont’s allies had announced Saturday they would try and have him appointed by May 14.

But they also recognised that if they couldn’t, they would pick an alternative candidate to unblock the political impasse in Catalonia, which was put under direct rule by Madrid on October 27 after a failed secession bid.

That day, Rajoy also sacked Puigdemont and all his ministers after the regional parliament declared independence following a referendum that wasn’t sanctioned by Madrid and was banned by the courts.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy arrives to welcome the president of the European Parliament before holding a meeting at La Moncloa palace in Madrid on May 8, 2018. (AFP)

He also called snap regional elections for December 21, which separatist parties went on to win, once again getting an absolute majority in parliament.

By then, Puigdemont had already left for Belgium in self-imposed exile.

But since then, all candidates proposed by the separatist camp to lead Catalonia have fallen flat, as they are either abroad and wanted by Spain, or already in prison, charged with rebellion.

Critics of the independence camp have charged they are merely dragging the process out to try and garner sympathy.

Speaking in the Senate on Tuesday, Rajoy slammed the separatists’ attempts to have Puigdemont re-appointed.

Catalonia’s self-exiled ousted president Carles Puigdemont during a meeting with politicians on May 5, 2018 in Berlin. (AFP)

He accused them of “having put Catalan politics in an absurd loop in which the personal interests of one person are placed before the collective project of an entire society”.

Catalan separatists, however, say Puigdemont is their legitimate leader as his Together for Catalonia grouping received the most votes out of all separatist parties in the December elections.

They also say the rebellion charge against him and others is disproportionate, and describe those already in jail in Spain — like former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras — as “political prisoners”.

Puigdemont is currently in Germany after being detained there in March on a European arrest warrant against him issued by Spain. He was later released on bail.

Source: AFP

9, May 2018

UK foreign secretary regrets Trump’s decision on Iran ⁰

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson voices regret for US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

Johnson made the comment in a tweet on Tuesday, also expressing London’s firm commitment to the landmark agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“Deeply regret US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. UK remains strongly committed to the JCPOA, and will work with E3 partners and the other parties to the deal to maintain it. Await more detail on US plan,” he tweeted.

The British foreign secretary, who has just returned from a trip to Washington, had earlier called on US President Donald not to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal and that “it would be a mistake to walk away” from the international accord.

He argued that “only Iran would gain” if the United States withdraws from the international nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers in 2015, which lifted nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

Jonson’s tweet on Tuesday came shortly after Trump announced his decision to withdraw the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with the world powers and re-impose sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The announcement came despite massive efforts by the European allies of the US to convince Trump to stay in the 2015 deal, reached between Iran and the P5+1, five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany.

France, Germany and Britain also released a joint statement in which they announced their commitment to the deal despite Trump’s decision to pull out and his threat of sanctions.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed “regret and concern” over the decision and called on Iran to “show restraint” in response to Trump’s announcement.

Russia and China, as the other signatories to the JCPOA, have warned against efforts to scrap the landmark accord and pledged to continue to honor their commitments under the deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been monitoring Iran’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA and has consistently verified the Islamic Republic’s compliance.

The Islamic Republic has always insisted that its atomic program is merely for peaceful purposes and that the West is using the nuclear case as a pretext to put pressure on Tehran.

Source: Presstv

8, May 2018

Obama says Trump’s decision to quit Iran nuclear deal is ‘misguided’ ⁰

Former US President Barack Obama says Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal is “misguided.”

After Trump announced his decision on Tuesday, Obama asserted that it is “so misguided.”

“Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America’s closest allies, and an agreement that our country’s leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated. In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities from one Administration to the next. But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America’s credibility, and puts us at odds with the world’s major powers.”

The democratic president, who was in office when the deal was inked in 2015, further suggested that Trump’s decision would undermine efforts to negotiate with North Korea.

“At a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes – with Iran – the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans,” Obama claimed. Iran has on numerous occasions asserted that its nuclear program is merely peaceful and not meant to make nukes.

Source: Presstv