September 01, 2017
Former Ambassador John Bolton has written a memo to President Trump telling him how to break out of the nuclear deal with Iran. The memo says the rationale should be based in part on Iranian violations of the nuclear agreement, but it neglects to mention any violations.
The memo also proposes new sanctions on Iran—including an outright and total ban on issuing any visas to any Iranians for any purpose.
The memo makes the point that it will be crucial to coordinate with America’s main allies in advance so they will support the decision. But it does not suggest any way to convince Britain, France and Germany to reverse their very vocal opposition to breaking up the agreement.
Bolton said he drafted the memo shortly after Trump took office in January at the request of Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist. Since Bannon has now been fired, Bolton said he decided to make the memo public.
Bolton was the US ambassador to the UN under President George W. Bush. He was widely viewed as the chief right-winger high in the State Department. But unlike some other conservatives in the State Department, he did not win much respect from liberals and was widely seen as a lightweight, even by many conservatives.
Bolton writes that America’s allies should be told, “We are going to abrogate the deal based on outright violations.” But nowhere in the memo does he cite any violations. Many critics have cited the fact that Iran twice exceeded the limit of 130 tons allowed for heavy water kept in a stockpile in Iran. But in both instances, Iran came back into compliance within days.
Bolton’s main argument in the memo is not that Iran violates it, but that, in his view, the agreement is not in American interests. But he fails to explain how that provides a legal justification for abrogation.
Bolton writes: “The JCPOA’s vague and ambiguous wording; its manifest imbalance in Iran’s direction; Iran’s significant violations; and its continued, indeed, increasingly, unacceptable conduct at the strategic level internationally demonstrate convincingly that the JCPOA is not in the national-security interests of the United States. We can bolster the case for abrogation by providing new, declassified information on Iran’s unacceptable behavior around the world.”
He continues: “The Admin-istration’s explanation in a ‘white paper’ should stress the many dangerous concessions made to reach this deal, such as allowing Iran to continue to enrich uranium; allowing Iran to operate a heavy-water reactor; and allowing Iran to operate and develop advanced centrifuges while the JCPOA is in effect.” But actions that are permitted under an agreement do not justify breaking an agreement.
He said the white paper should “not be limited to the inadequacies of the JCPOA as written, or Iran’s violations, but cover the entire range of Iran’s continuing unacceptable international behavior.”
He called for new sanctions on Iran—and Iranians. One proposal is to “end all visas for Iranians, including so called ‘scholarly,’ student, sports or other exchanges.” That would likely make Tehran very happy since it would offend the group of Iranians most ill-disposed toward the regime and help it promote its propaganda line that the United States hates Iranians.
Bolton also calls for “US support for the democratic Iranian opposition,” which sounds like a call for Trump to back the Mojahedin-e Khalq.
Bolton calls for support for an independent Kurdistan to cover Kurds in Iran, Iraq and Syria—but not Turkey.
He urges aid to rebel Baluchis, Arabs and Kurds in Iran.
And he says the United States should “set a deadline” by which Iran must pay more than $55 billion in judgments that US courts have levied on Iran for supporting terrorist acts against Americans.