Interview: French expert says Trump's Iran decision will have "immediate" geopolitical consequences

Source: Xinhua| 2017-10-14 12:27:47|Editor: Zhou Xin
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PARIS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's decision not to certify the Iranian nuclear issue will have "immediate" geopolitical consequences by fuelling tensions while security in the region is on edge, a French researcher on American issues said here on Friday.

"The spiral of tensions with Iran is re-opened. Doubt and uncertainty are established. The European allies of the United States do not know how to react," Julien Zarifian told Xinhua in an interview.

The French expert believed that "Iran will denounce the American executive's choice and refuse the possibility of any change in the agreement as has been done in recent months."

Britain, Germany and France "are likely to maintain their line of not criticizing too much the Trump administration's decisions, while continuing to express their commitment to an agreement which serves their economic and other interests," he said.

The three countries reiterated in a joint statement that they remain committed to the nuclear accord, calling for "its full implementation by all parties."

To the French expert, Trump's decision not to certify the nuclear deal "seems to be motivated by political calculations."

The agreement's "decertification" allows the American president "to show that he maintains the hard line on Iran and the accord...and allows him to send a strong message to his base and U.S. allies in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia in particular," Zarifian said.

"At the same time, neither he nor anyone else at this stage decides to bring the United States out of the agreement," he said.

Not to certify the accord signed in 2015 by France, Germany, Britain, China, Russia and the United States with Iran "does nothing but send the ball into Congress camp which will be responsible for re-examining the terms of the agreement and the conditions that allowed the lifting of certain U.S. sanctions against Iran," Zarifian said.

The U.S. Congress within 60 days "will decide whether the agreement is still valid and if the conditions are still there for the removal of certain sanctions against Tehran," said Zarifian.

"There will be long discussions whose outcome is difficult to predict today. But we can imagine that it will be difficult for parliamentarians to totally denounce an agreement signed by their country and respected, according to most observers, by all parties," he said.

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