Trump’s Exit From the Iran Nuclear Accord

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/trump-iran-nuclear.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Trump Pulls U.S. From ‘One-Sided’ Iran Nuclear Deal” (nytimes.com, May 8):

I want to congratulate our bull-in-a-china-shop president for his latest brilliant idea, withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran. It falls fully in line with his modus operandi of leaving chaos in his wake.

President Trump has given the green light to Iran to return to its nuclear activities, has incensed our allies and has laid the foundation for higher oil prices, a cruel tax on the American people. We have also signaled to the world that any agreement we execute is not worth the paper it is written on, that it should read “guaranteed to be in effect only through this presidency.”

The pullout places in jeopardy the prospect of reaching an agreement with North Korea for it to denuclearize. Why should North Korea come to terms with a president who has no regard for a commitment made by his country?

If the world is still in one piece by the conclusion of the Trump presidency, it will be miraculous.

OREN SPIEGLER, WASHINGTON, PA.

To the Editor:

Two preliminary facts: First, the United States is not the sole signer of the Iran nuclear deal. Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union also signed.

Second, the Iranians are abiding by the deal, as attested to by the investigators who are authorized to inspect Iran’s facilities.

That said, President Trump, with the agreement of Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, has announced that the United States is no longer bound by the deal.

My suggestion to the other signers is that they pledge to Iran to uphold the deal by 1) refusing to carry out any new sanctions by the United States and 2) pledging to defend Iran if the United States attempts a pre-emptive military strike. Thus, the breach of the deal by the United States would be fruitless, and the world would continue to be protected against a nuclear Iran.

Why North Korea would enter into a nuclear deal with the United States given the reneging by the United States on the Iran deal escapes me.

The main reason that Mr. Trump wants to ditch the Iran deal has nothing to do with the actual terms but rather because the deal was negotiated by the Obama administration. I doubt that he even knows the actual terms of the deal.

RHONDA R. RIVERA, ALBUQUERQUE

The writer is a retired law professor.

To the Editor:

I am not a person who is given to conspiracy theories. However, with the United States pulling out of the Iran agreement, oil prices will inevitably rise. One of the top beneficiaries of increased prices is none other than Russia.

TODD BLOCK, BOYNTON BEACH, FLA.

To the Editor:

If we wish for a more peaceable world, that requires not the might of our weapons — which largely failed us in misadventures like Iraq — but the power of our diplomacy. The Iran deal stopped a war before it could start. Abandoning it now could well lead to another war. Another “dumb” war, as Barack Obama once rightly called the conflict in Iraq.

CHUCK CURRIEFOREST GROVE, ORE.

The writer is director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality and university chaplain at Pacific University.