Stand Up and Speak Out:

The Trumpsters Are Thoughtlessly Escalating Tensions with Iran

Rasa - The Trump administration continues to make reckless threats against Iran in response to recent conventional missile tests and military maneuvers.

News ID: 427155

Date: 05 February 2017 - 23:41

RNA - The Trumpsters have escalated illegal sanctions which will further ratchet up tensions - even though the missile tests are not a violation of the nuclear agreement and the White House hasn’t even tried to say they are. But that’s not stopping President Trump from tweeting, “Iran is playing with fire - they don’t appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me!”

The realities are:

- No one in the Trump administration or the press or in the whole world believes that Iranian ballistic missiles fall under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (nuclear deal). The JCPOA has nothing at all to do with conventional weapons, as it only touches the nuclear technology.

- The international agreement does not prohibit Iran from developing conventional weapons or missiles at all. It only "calls upon" Iran not to "test" ballistic missiles "designed" to "carry WMD warheads". According to experts and US intelligence agencies, Iran never had, nor has today a nuclear weapons program, so there are no nuclear weapons that could be mounted on such missiles, and Iran has repeatedly reiterated that it has never designed any such weapons.

- The current controversy over Iran's missile testing has something to do with the Saudi-Israeli pressures that are no part of or have any respect for the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (20 July 2015) which endorsed the JCPOA after it had been ratified. UNSC Resolution 2231 stated flatly that all of the previously existing nuclear-related UN sanctions against Iran were terminated. Tell that to the Saudis and the Israelis who want to force the Trump administration to rescind the nuclear deal anyhow.

- The US is a signatory to this resolution and the nuclear deal. Still, that hasn’t stopped Washington from violating the deal and the resolution, acting independently of the UN and meting out its own wimpy sanctions and threats. In breach of the international agreement, the US is singling out and targeting Iran on highly questionable grounds without any real authority and justification. Together with Saudi Arabia and Israel, the Trump administration continues the Christian-Zionist-Wahhabi tradition to do anything and everything to antagonize Iran.

These are serious escalations that the world can no longer afford to downplay. In fact, the evidence to the new hostilities is so huge that it has forced Europe, which is still unable to resolve the refugee crisis, to distance itself from Trump’s America.

But, the Green Continent needs to realize that things could get ugly and out of hand. EU governments can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to Trump’s anti-Iran threats and pressures, which begs a question whether they really want to normalize ties with Tehran, end the war on Syria, and resolve the refugee crisis.

EU’s decision to distance itself from Trump’s reckless policies and plans is a good approach to dealing with the problem. But it’s not enough to put off the fire that feeds the current escalation and chaos. For obvious reasons, the EU needs to voice opposition to Washington’s escalation policy against Iran and Russia at the United Nations. It also needs to declare official opposition to Trump’s Muslim ban and refugee restrictions.

The EU has the whole world behind them. As we speak, hundreds of thousands of people continue to march across Europe, the United States and beyond against President Trump and his Muslim ban, many of them holding signs calling for his ouster. They are standing in support of Muslims, refugees and people they feel are at risk because of his executive order.

True, on Saturday, that order was tied up in the courts, and in the face of legal challenges, six federal courts have temporarily stayed implementation of parts of the executive order, indicating that petitioners have a strong likelihood of prevailing on the merits. The State Department has also reversed the cancellation of the 60,000 – 100,000 visas revoked after the order was issued. But that could change at any moment. Even if the petitioners ultimately prevail, the Trump administration can still shrug off its legal duty to act in accordance with those judicial decisions by ordering its embassies worldwide not to issue visas for Muslims.

A reminder that International Law and International Humanitarian Law are constant struggles and power concedes nothing. It is absolutely up to the international civil society to speak out and mount a resistance to loosen Trump’s oligarchic grip on Muslim immigrants, Muslim refugees, and Muslim countries. This is not something that’s unfolding in the shadows. It’s an actual policy that is happening right here, right now.

Every nation, every government actively involved in the real war against international terrorism and injustice bears responsibility for stopping the Trump administration's total disrespect for humanity, peace, and security. It is a responsibility for all of us to stop the Muslim demonizing cult on its tracks. If we ditch Trump’s Muslim ban and assault on humanity, or worse, steer away from International Law and ignore his reckless tensions with Iran, it will become even more difficult to stop him from targeting other nations and religions. Less than two weeks in office, and he is already in trouble with Mexico, EU, Australia, China and seven Muslim nations as his administration is even going tough on Russia over Ukraine. There could be horrifying humanitarian consequences.

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