CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Dissecting the US-Iran Agreement

The US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) has now been revealed, and it is clear why it took days before a US official read it out to reporters in advance of the signing ceremony. The deal commits the US to steps Trump vowed never to take, while for Iran there is much to celebrate despite the scale of destruction by US bombs. In a word, Iran retains the leverage it discovered it has always had—closure of the Strait of Hormuz—plus future economic benefits that will strengthen the regime.

Trump’s Shallow Defense

Trump’s defense of the deal with Iran comes down to two points.

First, the world would have faced “economic catastrophe” if the war had continued. “If we didn’t do this deal, we could have dropped more bombs for another three weeks . . . four weeks . . . two years . . . you would never have the Hormuz strait open.”

Second, he had to do something about Iran’s nuclear capability, since “If they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it within moments.” Utter nonsense: He caused the economic crisis, dropped bombs for over three months nevertheless, and is still threatening to resume bombing if Iran doesn’t abide by the deal. (“If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head,” Trump said.) His real worry is that the stock market kept going down—“at levels that nobody ever saw before, maybe, except for 1929,” he said at a press briefing after the G7 meeting in Paris. Trump said he didn’t want to be the next Herbert Hoover.

As for Iran having and using a nuclear weapon, well, we know—and US intelligence has concluded several times since 2003—that Iran was not close to having a nuclear weapon. Even if it had one, using it would, like North Korea, risk regime elimination.

The MOU repeats Iran’s pledge of 2015 that it “shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.” Both sides also commit to “resolve the........

© CounterPunch