Radio Recap: US Responds to Iranian Threats

By 

Nathanael Bennett

|
May 9, 2019

2 min read

Middle East

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Today on the broadcast, we discussed a number of topics, starting with the U.S. imposing additional sanctions on Iran, and deploying the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln to the region as a precautionary response to Iranian threats against U.S. interests.

A year after we told you President Trump had withdrawn the U.S. from the faulty Iran nuclear deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – Iran issued an ultimatum to the other signatories of the deal to renegotiate the deal within 60 days.

In what amounts to a threat, Iran essentially demanded the signatories offset the impact of the U.S. leaving the deal, and promised to “roll back” its commitments under the deal if the demands are not met. In other words, it will re-start (if it ever ceased, or even slowed) developing nuclear weapons.

The EU rightly rejected the mandate put down by Iran in an official statement:

We strongly urge Iran to continue to implement its commitments under the JCPoA in full as it has done until now and to refrain from any escalatory steps.

We reject any ultimatums and we will assess Iran’s compliance on the basis of Iran’s performance regarding its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPoA and the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons). In this respect, we recall the key role of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) monitoring and verification of the implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments.

These threats by Iran seem to only further verify that Iran is desperate as its economy continues to crumble. Iran has also been threatening America, and moved missiles into strategic locations capable of attacking American forces. In response, the U.S. sent an aircraft carrier and bombers to the region, which we all agreed sent a clear and simple message: DO NOT mess with the U.S.

Unlike under previous administrations, America will not back down or yield to the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism.

We also discussed an important win for conscience rights out of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Finally, we talked briefly about yesterday’s proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee, which voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt of Congress. Again, this is all just political theater—and an attempt to damage the Attorney General’s reputation.

You can listen to the entire episode here.