On Eve Of Trump-Saudi Meeting, Riyadh Calls Iran Nuclear Deal Flawed

[Gunny]

March 19, 2018
By Yara Bayoumy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia called the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers a “flawed agreement” on Monday, on the eve of a meeting between the Saudi crown prince and U.S. President Donald Trump who have both been highly critical of Iran.
“Our view of the nuclear deal is that it’s a flawed agreement,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in Washington.
The meeting between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Trump comes at a time when Riyadh and Washington have been strengthening their relationship after tensions under the previous U.S. administration, in part over Iran.
Jubeir called out Iran for what Riyadh has long slammed as Tehran’s destabilizing behavior in the region.
“We’ve called for tougher policies towards Iran for years,” Jubeir said.
“We’re looking at ways in which we can push back against Iran’s nefarious activities in the region,” Jubeir said, lambasting Tehran’s support for the Houthi militia in Yemen and support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Iran denies interference in the region’s affairs.
Saudi Arabia had viewed with unease the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, which they felt considered Riyadh’s alliance with Washington less important than negotiating the Iran nuclear deal.
Saudi state news agency SPA said the crown prince left for the United States on Monday to begin the visit, which is also expected to include meetings with business leaders and stops in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston.
It is first visit by Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS as he known in Western circles, to the United States since he became heir apparent.
The ambitious young prince has embarked on reforms to modernize deeply conservative Saudi Arabia.
He visited Britain this month on his first foreign tour since his rise as part of efforts to persuade Western allies that “shock” reforms have made his country, the world’s top oil exporter, a better place to invest and a more tolerant society.
He will meet Trump on Tuesday at the White House as well as senior administration officials. He will also see members of Congress, some of whom have been critical of the Saudi campaign in Yemen, particularly the humanitarian situation and civilian casualties.
Senior Trump administration officials who briefed reporters ahead of the visit said Trump wants to resolve a dispute between Gulf states and Qatar, although the Saudi foreign minister called the issue a “very small matter.”
Trump also still wants to arrange a summit of Gulf states, the officials said, even though it is far from clear that such a meeting can be scheduled.
Commercial ties also figure into the visit.
“While the crown prince is in Washington, we will be advocating for $35 billion in commercial deals for U.S. companies that would support 120,000 American jobs,” one official said.
In his meetings with business, industry and entertainment leaders, the prince is aiming to cultivate investments and political support. Several dozen Saudi chief executives are expected to join (http://www.oann.com/saudi-crown-prince-heads-for-the-united-states-news-agency/#) him in touting investment (http://www.oann.com/saudi-crown-prince-heads-for-the-united-states-news-agency/#) opportunities in the kingdom.
Jubeir said he would meet (http://www.oann.com/saudi-crown-prince-heads-for-the-united-states-news-agency/#) with executives in the oil and gas industry in Houston. He added that Riyadh would look to sign memorandums of understanding, without providing additional details.
The crown prince will have meetings at Google, Apple and Lockheed Martin. He will also participate in a Saudi-U.S. CEO forum in New York and will meet with U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Jubeir said the U.S.-Saudi relationship was at an “all-time high.”
Any visit to the New York Stock Exchange will be watched closely by investors because of the potentially lucrative listing of up to 5 percent of Saudi Aramco expected this year.
Sources close to the process said the kingdom is increasingly looking to just float the oil giant locally as plans for an initial public offering on an international exchange such as New York or London appear to be receding.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said recently that Aramco was too important to risk listing in the United States because of litigation concerns, such as existing lawsuits against rival oil companies for their role in climate change (http://www.oann.com/saudi-crown-prince-heads-for-the-united-states-news-agency/#).
Prince Mohammed has won Western plaudits for seeking to ease Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil, tackle chronic corruption and transform the Sunni Muslim kingdom.
But the severity and secrecy of an anti-corruption crackdown
last November, after Prince Mohammed was named heir to the throne, has unnerved some investors.
The crown prince is also likely to reiterate to Washington the view of Saudi Arabia that its regional arch-rival, Iran, should not be trusted given its nuclear program.
(Additional reporting by Marwa Rashad in Riyadh and Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Yara Bayoumy and Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Tom Brown and James Dalgleish)
http://www.oann.com/saudi-crown-prince-heads-for-the-united-states-news-agency/

Guess Trump's got one country backing him on the Iran Deal.

I started laughing at Iran's denial of destabilizing activity in the Middle East. What do they call Hezbollah"? "The Welcome to Lebanon" committee?

[Gunny]

March 19, 2018
By Robin Emmott
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – France urged the European Union on Monday to consider new sanctions on Iran over its involvement in Syria’s civil war and its ballistic missile programme, as Paris tries to persuade Washington to preserve a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
U.S. President Donald Trump has given the European signatories a May 12 deadline to “fix the terrible flaws” of the deal, which was agreed under his predecessor Barack Obama, or he will refuse to extend U.S. sanctions relief on Iran.
In response, the three European signatories – France, Britain and Germany – have proposed new EU sanctions targeting Iranians who support Syria’s government in that country’s civil war and Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, according to a confidential document seen by Reuters.
“We are determined to ensure that the Vienna accord is respected,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters on arrival for talks with his EU counterparts, referring to the city where the 2015 deal was signed.
“But we must not exclude (from consideration) Iran’s responsibility (http://www.oann.com/eu-must-consider-irans-missiles-regional-role-frances-le-drian/#) in the proliferation of ballistic missiles and in its very questionable role in the Near and Middle East,” he said. “That must also be discussed to reach a common position.”
The confidential document cites “transfers of Iranian missiles and missile technology” to Syria and allies of Tehran, such as Houthi rebels in Yemen and Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah.
Britain, France and Germany raised the sanctions issue with fellow EU foreign ministers on Monday, who discussed what strategy to present to Trump. But with time still to run until May, sanctions did not dominate the debate, diplomats said.
Iran’s foreign ministry criticised Le Drian’s comments, saying there could be no negotiation over what Iran says are purely defensive weapons.
“We were hopeful that after his recent visit to Tehran and negotiations with Iranian officials, he would understand the realities of the Islamic Republic’s defence policies,” Fars news agency quoted Iranian spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Twitter accused the West of “sheer hypocrisy” in selling large quantities of weapons to countries in the region while “whining about Iran’s defensive missiles”.
SANCTIONS?
The United States has unilateral sanctions on Iran over missile tests it says violate a U.N. resolution against developing weapons capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Any EU-wide measures would be the first significant punitive steps since the bloc lifted broad economic sanctions on Iran last year following the 2015 accord to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions for at least a decade.
But new sanctions would need the support of all 28 EU member states and some EU countries, including Italy and Greece, are keen to rebuild a business relationship that once made the EU Iran’s top trading (http://www.oann.com/eu-must-consider-irans-missiles-regional-role-frances-le-drian/#) partner and its second-biggest oil customer.
U.S. Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Sunday he expected Trump to pull out of the nuclear agreement in May unless European governments “really come together on a framework”.
Some EU ministers privately expressed concern at Trump’s decision to replace his secretary of state with CIA director and fierce Iran critic Mike Pompeo, and several also warned of the risks that Trump may withdraw from the deal, diplomats said.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who chaired the final stages of the nuclear negotiations between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, stressed that there was no formal EU position on new sanctions.
But other foreign ministers in Brussels hinted at discussions that diplomats said were underway in EU capitals.
“We have to explore all the possible measures to have the same type of pressure as we had in the nuclear dossier,” Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders told reporters.
(Additional reporting by Samantha Koester, Alissa de Carbonnel and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin Nouri; Editing by Gareth Jones)
http://www.oann.com/eu-must-consider-irans-missiles-regional-role-frances-le-drian/

Looks like France is weighing in. Not looking too good for Iran considering how long it takes bureaucrats to agree on anything. Time is running out.

Good. F*ck Iran. It's not going to stop Iran though. Because (guess who?) Russia is playing footsie with the Ayatollah. That last being really dumb, IMO. Of course, I've always thought playing with snakes was dumb. First chance they get, they'll bite you. It's their nature.