Withdrawal from Iran deal could unravel American empire

If Donald Trump pulls the United States out of the international nuclear agreement with Iran, it will probably lead to unraveling of all the alliances that make up the American empire, according to E. Michael Jones, an American scholar and political analyst in Indiana.

Jones, a writer, former professor, media commentator and the current editor of the Culture Wars magazine, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday on the eve of a deadline for the US president to decide whether to reimpose energy sanctions lifted under the 2015 agreement signed between Iran and six world powers -- the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany.

According to reports, Trump plans to again refuse to certify to Congress that the nuclear deal is America's best interest, but will stop short of reimposing energy sanctions that could kill the landmark agreement.

The White House will announce Trump’s decision on Friday.

The US president is likely to accept recommendation from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and extend the sanctions waivers for three more months, The Associated Press reported Wednesday, citing unnamed Trump administration sources.

Trump, however, is likely to introduce a new series of sanctions that would also include Iranian firms and individuals whose sanctions were scrapped under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA.

In October, Trump extended the sanctions waivers but refused to certify Iran's compliance with the nuclear agreement, warning that he might ultimately terminate Washington’s participation in defiance of all the other signatories.

“First of all we have to put this in the context of his political situation. The deep state declared war on Donald Trump even before he was elected – they have been trying to remove him from office ever since he was elected,” Jones told Press TV.

“Trump in order to preserve his presidency has allied himself with Jews in general and Likudniks in particular in Israel. Now this in many ways saved his presidency, but the actions that follow from it have alienated him from the rest of the world,” he stated.  

“The best example is the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the decision to move the United States embassy to Jerusalem. This alienated the entire world as evident in the United Nations’ resolution where only nine people [countries] supported Trump and four of them were microscopic nations in the middle of the Pacific that nobody can locate on a map,” the analyst said.

“The same thing is going to be applied for the nuclear agreement.  In order to preserve his presidency he feels forced to do what the Likudniks want. Netanyahu came over here and basically told the Congress not to vote for the Iran agreement,” he noted.

“This alienated President Obama completely but his administration won that battle and it got passed. It was the biggest defeat that AIPAC had in American history,” the commentator said, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the biggest Zionist group in the United States.  

“Now Trump is in the same situation. He made these promises that the agreement is terrible. If he follows through on his threats, he would alienate all of the people, the other nations who signed the agreement. This was not a unilateral agreement; this was five different nations signing an agreement,” Jones said.  

“If he reneges on this unilaterally he will break up all of these alliances and at a moment when everyone has lost confidence in his leadership. And I am talking specifically about Germans as basically the main country in NATO, and the European Union, the biggest power in NATO and in the European Union,” he argued.

“If he goes through with this, it will probably provoke the final break with Germany which can lead to basically unraveling all of the alliances that make up the American empire,” he concluded.

PressTV-World will change if Trump nixes JCPOA: Germany

The German foreign minister says 'the world will change' if the United States decides to ditch the nuclear deal with Iran.

The Trump administration has desperately sought a pretext to scrap or weaken the 2015 deal and get rid of the limits the deal imposes on the US ability to pursue more hostile policies against Iran.

However, Washington’s European allies seek to prevent the collapse of the deal and are stepping up efforts to convince Trump not to abandon the accord.