The day when U.S. President Donald Trump announced withdrawal of the U.S. from of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the White House put on a righteous face regarding his decision and issued a perfectionist statement, the reactions in Iran were different.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

Some expressed their hatred regarding Trump and the U.S. Administration, and some other called this decision a totally ineffective and useless one. This action was praised by the U.S. conservatives who considered the JCPOA as a weak agreement. Other American political personalities like former President Barack Obama and his vice-president Joe Biden criticized Trump’s decision while European countries including UK, France and Germany which were the signatories of the JCPOA deplored this action of President Trump. By the way, all polls conducted showed that most of American people disagreed President Trump’s decision and preferred at least some part of the deal to be preserved.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which is unofficially known as Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal was an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program which was inked in July 2015 between Iran, P5+1 (five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia, UK and the U.S. – plus Germany) and EU, and Iran’s pullout of it was not considered as a legal action.

President Trump had repeatedly spoken about the modification of the JCPOA until May 12, 2018 and reiterated that if other signatories of the JCPOA (France, UK, Russia, China and Germany) did not take action for modifying the deal based on the U.S. policy (of course supporting Israel), the U.S. would reimpose the nuclear sanctions against Iran. He used to say that the U.S. would only stay in the JCPOA if it was modified and four new conditions to be included in it.

Trump during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron officially announced, “Nobody knows what will be my decisions for May 12 (the deadline for Iran’s commitment to the JCPOA).” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his equivocal remarks said that he presumed strongly that the U.S. would soon pull out of the nuclear deal. He considered the U.S. being on the verge of leaving the JCPOA. Former counselor to the U.S. Department of State Wendy Sherman expressed her concern over isolation of the U.S. after its pullout of the nuclear deal. She even in an article published in the New York Times emphasized, “The U.S. exit from the nuclear deal will provide Iran with this opportunity for uranium enrichment, and as long as the U.S. is not committed to its deal obligations, Iran will not remain committed to its obligations, either.”

She tried to make her friends taking office in the White House believe if the U.S. was not a trustable ally, its European allies would not involve it in other international equations. Most of the critics of the White House policies also believed that the U.S. exit from the JCPOA would harm seriously the relation between the U.S. and its European allies. They believed that this action, besides being a threat against the U.S. national security interests, would decrease the international capability for monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities and it would be crystal clear that the U.S. exit of the JCPOA would dishearten hostile countries to the U.S. (like North Korea which is considered a dangerous nuclear threat to the U.S.) from negotiation with this country and this exit would be more loss to the U.S. and instead in favor of Iran.

Now 22 months after the U.S. pullout of the deal, Trump is on the slope of falling from the power and legally handing over the White House to the Democrat Party representative, and he should accept this point that whatever his non-partisan rivals had criticized have come true, and if there was not President Hassan Rouhani government’s tiptoeing-around in Iran regarding the reactions to the U.S. action, today Iran could have stood three hundred steps ahead of its current position.

Trump should believe this fact that his deadly sanctions despite inefficiency of Iran government have not succeeded so much. He should believe that all of his actions in the past might turn into the encounter of him versus nothing, and the U.S. legal president-elect Joe Biden, with winning some 51 percent of Americans’ votes in the 2020 presidential election, would indisputably return to the same JCPOA in order to prove the world that the U.S. is not a uncivilized country where a government signs a deal and the next government retreats its signature under any pretext.

Now Biden should think of how he does convince Iran for the U.S. return to the JCPOA and what concessions he should give Iran or how he compensates Iranian people with the damages they have suffered in these years.

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The media disputes among state governors of the U.S. in facing with the management of the U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House in his ways of dealing with the Coronavirus crisis in New York and Washington are totally different.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

In the past five decades, the U.S. economy has been deeply rooted in New York and today, that very economy has inflicted the most damages on the West’s economy after the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Just some two weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its report forcasted that the U.S. economy would shrink by 6% in 2020. In other words, the U.S. inevitably would withdraw the dominance of its national currency dollar in the world. In the IMF report, it has also been noted that European Union economy would also shrink by 7.5 percent and actually the West, in a deep and serious challenge with the Coronavirus, will be in economic decline, and New York is the capital of this challenge and decline.

The IMF report also forecasted that China’s economic growth will be one percent in 2020. It means the gap between economic growths of China and both Europe and the U.S. will be some 8 percent in just one year. It actually means that the hub of bourses and banking sector of the Wall Street have turned into the capital city of the Coronavirus in the world and this stunning pandemic can push all the West into an economic abyss.

This concern has also forced French President Emmanuel Macron to outspokenly say that in upcoming months it would be determined whether EU as a big economic and political project would collapse or it would challenge with the crisis to overcome it.

The concern about the collapse in New York is several times more than Europe but it has not become media headlines. Of course this concern can be seen apparently in the faces of American people and the U.S. media anchors.

Last week acclaimed American actor Robert De Niro in one of the most popular programs, The Late Show, launched a scathing attack on the performance of Trump’s Administration and mostly the White House regarding the management of the Coronavirus crisis. In his video interview and during his chat with the program’s anchor Stephen Colbert, he shared his COVID-19 experience and what he did in the lockdown phase and his dissatisfaction with the government’s services regarding the virus. De Niro reports that he doesn’t watch a whole lot of movies anymore, but he’s glued to the news. And these days, who isn’t? It feels like it’s been up-to-the-minute news updates for four non-stop years – and even more so now. He added it’s a lot of reading scripts, a bit of working out and “trying to stay alive.” The Irishman’ actor also explained that he has been lifting weights “to keep bone mass strong” and doing a lot of cardio and other routine exercises such as using a treadmill to be ready for his next  which will be a Coronavirus-themed movie where he is to play the role current New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

In his interview he strongly defended the performance of Cuomo and slammed Trump Administration’s in dealing with the Coronavirus crisis. On Cuomo’s performance, De Niro said, “Cuomo… he’s doing what a president should do.” Calling the pandemic “a national tragedy,” the actor expressed his disappointment in the current administration’s attempts to control the coronavirus outbreak.

De Niro who has acted in acclaimed movies like Raging Bull and Taxi Driver is popular among the American people as the cultural statue. On the central government, he labelled the U.S. President “an idiot” who largely ignored many of the warning signs. It’s all about him getting re-elected. I have no words for it anymore. I’m nonplussed. Dumbfounded …,” he added.

These remarks are like what French President Macron have made implicitly and they reveal the decayed root of American economy in facing of  New York as the center of country’s economy and Washington as the center of political management of the country.

Today Coronavirus pandemic in the world has turned into dominance of economic misery influence in different levels and with what I elaborated, New York City is considered as the capital of this crisis.

 By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

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According To Iran News, France’s hardleft trade unions on Friday threatened industrial action for months to come, as they searched for a way to force President Emmanuel Macron to ditch the biggest overhaul of the country’s pension system since World War Two.

The unions have been locked in battle with Macron over the fate of France’s generous pension benefits since early December. The former investment banker has made some concessions to the unions but refuses to abandon his reform.

The unions on Friday brought thousands of protesters onto the streets for a seventh round of nationwide demonstrations, although their large-scale actions are petering out and they are increasingly resorting to wildcat actions to cause disruption.

 “Our determination remains intact,” Yves Veyrier, head of the Force Ouvriere union, told reporters ahead of a street march in Paris. “We have weeks, months, of protest ahead of us”, Reuters reported.

Macron wants to streamline the existing set-up of 42 different pension schemes, each with their own levels of contributions and benefits, into a single system that gives every pensioner the same rights for each euro contributed.

The myriad special benefits deter job mobility, says Macron, for whom the reform is central to his drive to create a more flexible labor market.

Trade union opponents say the reform will require people to work longer for a full pension.

“I still believe in our fight,” said one protester in Paris who identified herself as Karine and carried a banner reading ‘We Shall Overcome’.

Walkouts at power plants left electricity generation reduced by 6.4% of available capacity, according to grid operator data. Power demand is outstripping supply due to cold weather, leaving France a net importer of electricity from its neighbors.

Macron’s Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, insists the reform must result in a balanced pension budget by 2027.

Under pressure from the unions, he has withdrawn raising the retirement age for a full pension by two years to 64. But unions must now find another way to balance the pension books or the provision will be added back in before the bill is due to be voted into law this summer.

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According To Iran News, In a telephone conversation on Wednesday, President of France Emmanuel Macron andd Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed Iran nuclear deal.

According to the Global Times, the two sides exchanged views on a number of issues, including China-France ties and Iran nuclear deal.

Last week, France, Britain, and Germany announced their decision to trigger the dispute mechanism in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – a step that could lead to the restoration of UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The E3 said the measure was in response to Iran’s reductions of its commitments to the JCPOA, which in turn was a reaction to the US’ withdrawal from the nuclear deal and EU’s failure to find practical ways to shield mutual trade from the US sanctions.

The JCPOA lifted nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN and some other signatories of the deal, particularly the US.

The Islamic Republic, in return, voluntarily changed some aspects of its nuclear program. The agreement was later ratified in the form of Security Council 2231, which terminated previous UN resolutions against the Islamic Republic.

Bowing to Washington’s pressure, the three remaining European signatories failed to protect Tehran’s business interests under the deal after the US’s withdrawal and started to tow Washington’s sanction line.

Consequently, Iran began in May 2019 to gradually reduce its commitments under the JCPOA to both retaliate for Washington’s departure and prompt the European trio to respect their obligations towards Tehran.

The E3, however, refuted the argument that Iran is entitled to reduce compliance with the JCPOA and they eventually decided to activate the trigger mechanism.

Referring to activation of trigger mechanism by E3, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on January 20, said that Iran will leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if EU takes Iran’s nuclear to UN Security Council.

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According To Iran News, US President Donald Trump denounced recent comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron on the military alliance NATO.

In November, Macron told The Economist magazine that the world was experiencing the “brain death” of NATO, warning that members of the alliance could no longer rely on the US.

In comments to the press ahead of a NATO meeting in London on Tuesday, Trump said Macron’s words had been “very, very nasty” to the other 28 member states. He added that it was “very insulting” for the French president to label NATO as brain dead. “You can’t go around saying that about NATO,” Trump added.

The US president said relations between the US and European NATO members were not causing any divide, with the exception of France.

“I do see France breaking off. I’m looking at him and I’m saying he (Macron) needs protection more than anybody and I see him breaking off, so I’m a little surprised at that,” said the American leader, CNBC reported.

Trump has himself criticized the international body, previously describing NATO as “obsolete.” And in comments just before arriving in the UK, Trump also called out some of the alliance members as “delinquent,” in an apparent reference to the amount of money that some nations spend on defense.

The US leader also took a swipe at France’s economy, suggesting with its high unemployment rate, that the country was “not doing well economically at all.” The unemployment rate in France moved higher to 8.6% in the third quarter of 2019 but has been steadily improving over the past five years.

Trump suggested France was looking to bolster its budget by introducing a levy a digital tax on US giants such as Facebook and Google. The president said he would now counter this move. “They are starting to tax other people’s products, so we are going to tax them,” Trump told the reporters.

On Monday, the White House had said it may impose duties of up to 100% on $2.4 billion in imports of French Champagne, cheese and other luxury goods.

Leading losers in the French stock markets on Tuesday morning were luxury stocks such as Hermes, LVMH and Kering.

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IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

TEHRAN – Supreme Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has reiterated the futility of talks with the U.S., calling on the Iranian officials to learn from the experiences of Cuba and North Korea who did not see any relief from American sanctions after interaction with Washington.

In an address to a gathering of Iranian students in Tehran on Sunday, Ayatollah Khamenei underscored that entering negotiations with the U.S. government will not settle any problem.

The Leader then highlighted the experience of Cuba and North Korea in the talks with the U.S., saying the American and North Korean authorities took photos together and gave each other the highest compliment, but the White House did not ease the sanctions against Pyongyang a bit afterwards.

“They (Americans) are like this (in the negotiations). They say we would bring you (Iran) to your knees, and they do not make any concessions ultimately,” Ayatollah Khamenei warned.

Iran decided to give the U.S. another chance by urging Washington to correct its mistakes, to lift the sanctions, to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and to attend talks within the framework of the JCPOA, but the U.S. declined the offer, Ayatollah Khamenei added, saying it was a strategy to test the US and prove the U.S.’ intentions to the world.

The U.S. government’s demands have no limits, the Leader noted, stressing that Iran will never agree on them.

The U.S. wants Iran to stay out of the region, to stop supporting the axis of resistance, and to scrap its missiles, and will gradually urge the Islamic Republic to become lax in enforcing the laws on hijab, Ayatollah Khamenei warned.

The Leader then touched on France’s efforts to mediate between Iran and the U.S., saying French President Emmanuel Macron who claims that a single meeting with the US president would solve all of Iran’s problems is either “very naïve or an accomplice of the US.”

Ayatollah Khamenei then asked the Iranian official not to wait for the French president to address the problems, saying such limbo would plunge the country into depression.

“The key to resolving the country’s economic problems is production. This is what the economists say. There is no other option. It is not possible to wait for the foreigners to settle the country’s problems. Such a wait harms the country’s progress,” the Leader underlined.

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that it would be meaningless to keep waiting for the plans of the US or French presidents on the JCPOA.

The Leader then asked the Iranian administration to stop pinning hopes on the foreigners, but not to sever contacts with them, and to rely on the internal capacities instead of waiting for the foreigners.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted that Tehran’s main response to Washington’s hostile plots has been to prevent the U.S. government from making inroads into the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Revolution has been based upon countering the U.S., as the slogans that demonstrators chanted during the Revolution were anti-American ones, he added.

Since the 1979 Revolution in Iran, the U.S. has resorted to every measure to harm the Iranian nation, such as plotting coups, provoking anti-Iranian moves and separatist movement, and blockades, the Leader deplored.

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that Iran has not stood idle in the face of the U.S. and has sent the enemy to the “corner of the ring” in the fight.

“But the Islamic Republic’s most important response to the U.S. plots has been that it has blocked the U.S.’ way for renewed arrival and infiltration into the country,” the Leader underlined.

Ayatollah Khamenei also decried the attempts at distorting history, saying while some claim that the takeover of the den of espionage (U.S. embassy) in Tehran triggered the conflicts between Iran and the U.S., such struggle dates back to before the 1953 coup, orchestrated by the U.S. government.

The U.S. government has not changed over the past decades and has maintained the same “wolfish characteristics”, evil attitudes, and tendency to be a global dictator as of today, the Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei concluded that the U.S. has become weaker, but at the same time wilder and ruder, compared to the past.

Every year in early November, the Iranian students mark the anniversary of the takeover of the American embassy.

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Saying that Iran’s approach is to maintain the JCPOA, the Iranian president stressed “fulfilling the commitments by all parties and guaranteeing the security of free shipping in all waterways, including the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, are two of Iran’s major goals in the ongoing negotiations.”

He criticized the Europeans for not taking any practical steps to live up to their commitments after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and re-imposition of sanctions on Iran.

The Iranian president said the full lifting of all anti-Iran sanctions would lay the ground for future negotiations, stressing that if Europe fails to fulfill its commitments, Iran will implement the third phase of reductions in its commitments to the nuclear deal.

He, at the same time, stressed that the third step will be reversible like the two previous steps.

Rouhani also described the JCPOA agreement as unalterable, stressing that all parties must be committed to its content.

Elsewhere, the Iranian president touched upon the issue of Yemen and emphasized a political solution to the crisis with the aim of reaching sustainable peace based on justice in the war-torn country.

He also warned against the Zionist regime of Israel’s warmongering policies in the region, urging France, as a permanent UNSC member, to try to act in accordance with UN resolutions and support the UN Charter.

The French president, for his part, said that the Iranian and French experts had achieved good results in resolving the problems ahead and that a meeting would be held this week between the French and Iranian economic experts in Paris.

Macron added the decision to continue talks and solving the problems through negotiations is a proper decision.

He warned that the failure of the JCPOA will embolden many hard-liners in the international arena, adding that “we must look for a solution to secure our mutual interests, and in this regard, France will pursue solving political and economic problems on the way of dealing with Iran and resolve tensions.”

The French president also called for expansion of Iranian-French cooperation to resolve regional issues and problems, including the Yemen crisis.

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“Generally speaking, the conversation focused on banking, economic and political issues. It was a general package of topics and both sides are looking forward to its conclusion and final result,” Vaezi added.

During the conversation between Rouhani and Macron on Saturday, it was reported that the French side had praised Iran’s commitment to talks on how to resolve a standoff over its nuclear program, telling Rouhani that France would continue its efforts for de-escalation on Iran case.

Meanwhile, Rouhani had said European parties to the JCPOA had done little to save the nuclear deal from the impacts of the US sanctions, adding “If Europe fails to execute its obligations, Iran would take its third step in reducing JCPOA commitments.”

Vaezi then talked about the US’ foreign policy toward Iran, describing it as “haphazard”.

“There is no clear framework or principle in their remarks [regarding Iran]. But we in Iran have one single policy when it comes to the US and we are all in support of it, which is, as long as the US keeps up its hastily against Iran, there will be no chance for talks. If it changes its hostile position and lifts Iran’s sanctions, then the situation will be different,” he added.

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Speaking to reporters upon arrival in Beijing about the reasons behind his visit to Biarritz, the top diplomat said the visit came at the invitation of his French counterpart in Jean-Yves Le Drian, in continuation of consultations that took place in the past few weeks between the presidents of the two countries.

“On Friday in Paris, I held talks with the French president and foreign minister on several issues. There was a need to have another round of consultations among our experts to further clarify on these issues, particularly the ones related to banking transactions and oil exports,” said Zarif.

“For this, we were in Biarritz for nearly four hours, discussing issues with the French foreign minister and minister of finance. I spent the last hour talking with President Macron,” he added.

“There was an opportunity to review the latest developments and coordination with the adviser to British prime minister and the adviser to German chancellor, as the two other European signatories to the nuclear deal. We hope that these talks will be effective on the implementation of Europeans’ commitments to the JCPOA,” said Zarif.

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Zarif said “France provided offers regarding the JCPOA implementation and the steps that the parties need to take and we, for our part, had an offer so that the JCPOA is fully implemented.”

Describing the consultations with the French president as ‘good and constructive,’ the Iranian foreign minister said that success of the consultations depend on how the EU implements its JCPOA commitments.

He pointed to the upcoming G7 summit in France as an opportunity for Mr Macron and other European signatories of the JCPOA to talk to the G7 members.

He added that Iran will continue the talks and Macron’s contact with Rouhani will also continue.

The top Iranian diplomat went on to say that Iran’s approach is quite clear which is the JCPOA is non-negotiable; however, he said that Iran is ready to continue talks on the JCPOA implementation as it has done during the talks within the framework of the Joint JCPOA Commission.

The top Iranian diplomat is scheduled to meet with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian later today after the meeting with President Macron.

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