Iran gives ultimatum -- Trump is responsible by withdrawing from deal that was working

First, an acknowledgement:   President Trump's commandeering of the Independence Day celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington Mall was not as bad as I had feared.

Yes, it perverted, for many, the real meaning of the day by emphasizing the military rather than the principles of democracy and freedom.   But at least he didn't turn it overtly political.    There's no way it could not have political overtones -- in the middle of a re-election campaign and with this president -- but his speech was careful to sound non-partisan-- so I'm told;  I did not watch or even read about it,

Well, Walter Schaub, former chief of government ethics department, says that the real purpose was what will come later -- campaign ads, featuring the president as commander-in-chief.   All at taxpayers' expense.    Meanwhile, we can speculate how much Trump's hotel on the Mall raked in?   Oh, well . . .

My intended subject for today was the Iranian activity over increasing the amount of uranium enrichment closer to weapons-grade than had been allowed by the mutli-nation agreement -- and Iran's ultimatum concerning proceeding further unless concessions are made concerning the sanctions.

By all reasonable accounts, this Obama-era 2015 agreement, reached after extensive and delicate diplomatic negotiations over years, was working.   And then Trump pulled us out of the deal.

In other words, Trump made the U.S. the first violator of the agreement.   So we can't legitimately say that the Iranians blew up the deal.

As Danielle Wallace of FoxNews wrote in an online piece:
"The 2015 deal has been unraveling since the U.S. withdrew its support in 2018.  The original deal saw sanctions on Iran lifted in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, but President Trump restored crippling sanctions against Iran upon pulling out of the accord, weakening the agreement altogether."

Trump loudly proclaimed that it was a terrible deal, too weak in its limits on Iran and that he would get a better deal.

Wallace further stated:   "Former President Obama released a statement at the time, arguing the nuclear deal 'is working' and 'has significantly rolled back Iran's nuclear program,' saying that's why Trump's announcement 'is so misguided.'"

Folks, we have a bull in a china shop when it comes to diplomacy on the word stage.  Trump is trying to transfer New York City business negotiations into the world of statecraft and delicate diplomacy.   It just does not work.

We must not elect this man for a second turn.    If we think we have a disaster now, think of the harm he can do with another four years.

Ralph