Anti-War Activists:

Saudi, Israeli Lobbies behind US Exit from N. Deal

Members of an anti-war NGO based in the US, Code Pink, denounced Washington for abandoning the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal, asserting that strong Saudi and Israeli lobbies were behind the White House withdrawal from the agreement.

News ID: 443681

Date: 02 March 2019 - 13:57

RNA - “Both Israel and Saudi Arabia did tremendous amount of lobbying to try to stop the Iranian nuclear deal from being signed. The Israelis got as a compensation more of our tax dollars and the Saudis got as compensation US support for the destruction of Yemen,” said Medea Benjamin, Code Pink co-founder, speaking at a press conference in Tehran’s Milad Tower on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Benjamin raised the alarm at the possibility of a new war in the Middle East.

“We are worried about the US going to war with Iran, we are worried about the US bombing Iran. We are worried about another disastrous war in the Middle East and we don’t want to be party to that,” she said.

“We don’t want to be involved in another war. It is almost 20 years now that the US has invaded and occupied countries in the Middle East. It’s been such a disaster for the people of this region. We don’t want to see it get even worse,” she added.

Ann Wright, another Code Pink member, condemned illegal American sanctions and vowed efforts towards changing the Trump administration’s hostile approach on Iran.

“We do not want our government in the United States to be having the sanctions put on Iran. It’s the United States who abrogated the framework agreement treaty. We are here to say to the Iranian people we are going to work hard in the United States to get our government to change its policies,” she said.

According to Fars News Agency, Code Pink members, during their visit to Tehran, criticized the Washington administration for abandoning the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal and re-imposing bans on Iran, saying such a move is the outcome of extensive lobbying by the Israeli and Saudi regimes, America’s staunchest allies in the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington would no longer remain part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and promised to re-impose the highest level of economic sanctions against Iran.

After Trump's declaration, the Iranian government issued a statement, calling the US withdrawal as "unlawful". The statement underlined Iran's prerequisites for continuing the deal with the five world powers. These conditions that were reiterated later by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei mainly included Iran's guaranteed crude sales and transfer of its revenues back home.

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