[E-rundbrief] Info 1742 - US no right to violate Iran nuclear deal

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief Info 1742 - Jonathan Granoff: US doesn't have the right to 
violate Iran nuclear deal.

Bad Ischl, 9.5.2018

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

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http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/386913-trump-us-dont-have-the-legal-right-to-violate-iran-nuclear-deal#

US doesn't have the right to violate Iran nuclear deal

By Jonathan Granoff, opinion contributor — 05/09/18 02:00 PM EDT
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of 
The Hill

The Trump Administration has just walked away from the United States’ 
commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also 
known in the American media as "the Iran Deal."

But it’s not an informal “deal;” it’s a formal international 
agreement, endorsed by the Security Council of the United Nations, 
full of rigorous safeguards, duties, terms and conditions crafted 
through sophisticated, smart diplomatic hard work on the part of the 
international community. It can’t be easily set aside without 
undermining the UN, the international community, and the U.S. 
Constitution.

One of the dangers recognized by the drafters of the Constitution was 
that short-term partisan interests of a populist nature, or an 
individual state, could encourage overturning complex or unpopular 
treaties entered into by the government of the United States. This led 
to the inclusion of the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution, which 
stats that “all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the 
authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; 
and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the 
Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”

One fully ratified treaty the United States is bound by is the United 
Nations Charter. The so-called “Iran Deal” was formally endorsed by 
the Security Council of the United Nations, the correct international 
organ to approve the JCPOA. In throwing it out, not only has the Trump 
administration disregarded its allies and friends, it has diminished 
the weight of the UN system, and thus the Supremacy Clause of the 
Constitution, and thus one of the foundations of the United States. 
This is a serious matter indeed.

By pulling out of the deal, the United States violated an 
international agreement it solemnly entered into, putting it in a 
class with nations that pointedly disrespect international 
cooperation, the rule of law, peace, and nuclear nonproliferation. 
It’s not just a deal between the U.S. and Iran; by virtue of the UN 
Security Council resolution the deal is between Iran and the entire 
world. U.S. withdrawal demonstrates callous disregard for world 
opinion, and diminishes the world’s trust in America’s word, honor and 
commitments.

How ugly is this action? Let me count the ways:

1. It rejects the existing means of ensuring a peaceful nuclear 
program in Iran.

2. It breaks the U.S. long-standing tradition of cooperating with and 
honoring our solemn promises to partners such as France, Germany, the 
United Kingdom, and the entire European Union.

3. It obliterates technical obligations placed on Iran included in the 
general text of the agreement and five additional “annexes”.

4. It dismisses the value of Iran rolling back its nuclear program by 
decreasing its nuclear stockpiles.  Under the deal, Iran removed the 
core of its Arak heavy water reactor and filled it with cement to 
ensure it could never produce weapons grade plutonium. It reduced its 
centrifuges, including removing the centrifuges in its underground 
Fordow uranium enrichment facility and refraining from enriching 
uranium there for 15 years.

5. It discounts the value of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 
competencies, expertise, and professionalism to monitor the agreement.

This list could be extended. The full cost of the withdrawal to 
international peace and security remains to be seen. Will it help to 
set the stage for military conflict with Iran, or other use of force 
to influence or destabilize it? Will it lead to more formal rejections 
of the UN system to come?

It is likely that as the U.S. imposes sanctions on Iran, our allies 
and European partners will grow farther apart from the U.S. In the 
eyes of many nations, Russia and China may look like far more credible 
and reliable partners.

The Trump administration has presented its abrogation of the Iran Deal 
like a well-scripted reality show, playing to the audience it knows. 
But this is not a script; it has real consequences. It endangers the 
U.S.’s standing in the world, invites war mongers to fill the vacuum 
left by voiding the agreement, and threatens further destabilization 
to a region of the world already eyeing collapse.

Jonathan Granoff is president of the Global Security Institute, and 
United Nations Representative and Senior Advisor of the Permanent 
Secretariat of the World Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates. He chairs 
the Task Force on Nuclear Nonproliferation of the International Law 
Section of the American Bar Association, and he is a fellow of the 
World Academy of Arts and Science. He has testified as and expert 
before the US Congress, the United Nations, Canadian Parliament and 
U.K. Parliament. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

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