Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

He called it the ‘worst deal ever’ while campaigning, but Donald Trump will extend nuclear deal at least 120 more days.

Washington, DC – US President Donald Trump passed up a chance to derail the nuclear deal with Iran on Wednesday, a move analysts said reflected business interests at home and diplomatic relations abroad.

During Trump’s election campaign he vowed to “rip up” the nuclear agreement with Tehran if elected, calling it “the worst deal ever”.

Trump had until Thursday to extend a sanctions waiver on Iran, and the US state department announced a day earlier it would be signed, meaning old sanctions wouldn’t be re-imposed and the nuclear deal will continue – at least for now.

“We are communicating to the US Congress that the United States continues to waive sanctions as required to continue implementing US sanctions-lifting commitments,” a State Department statement said.

However, the department also announced the imposition of new unrelated sanctions against Iranian defence officials and an Iranian “entity”. It also pledged to continue reviewing the nuclear deal with withdrawal still possible.

Iran nuclear deal, a year on

“This ongoing review does not diminish the United States’ resolve to continue countering Iran’s destabilising activity in the region, whether it be supporting the Assad regime [in Syria], backing terrorist organisations like Hezbollah [in Lebanon], or supporting violent militias that undermine governments in Iraq and Yemen.

“And above all, the United States will never allow the regime in Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” the statement said.

Iran agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal to curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of sanctions that had crippled its economy.

Along with the P5+1 (five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany), the Obama administration touted the nuclear deal as a crucial move towards detente with Iran and regional peace.

The US president must review and sign the sanctions relief waiver every 120 days. After taking office in January, Thursday was Trump’s first opportunity to roll it back.

Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former US assistant secretary of defence, said the Trump administration’s continuation of the nuclear deal is similar to the situation with China.

Trump slammed China’s “unfair” trade policies throughout his election campaign, but once in office he quickly smoothed things over with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On Iran, Korb noted the importance of the $6bn Boeing deal with Tehran that could mean the creation of 18,000 American jobs.

“Trump is a businessman after all,” Korb told Al Jazeera. “Again its rhetoric verses policy. I was the assistant secretary of defence under Ronald Reagan who denounced the ‘evil Soviet Empire’ – and then was ready to give up our nuclear weapons.”

Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Washington DC-based Institute for Policy Studies, said the danger threatening the nuclear deal is the imposition of new sanctions and the US government’s belligerent language towards Iran.

“That kind of language fuels the hardliners. It is a gift to the hardline elements in the Iranian political scene,” Bennis told Al Jazeera.

READ MORE: Obama: Abandoning Iran nuclear deal could mean war

Europe’s leaders are quickly moving forward on economic normalisation with Iran, and scuttling the nuclear deal would have wide-ranging diplomatic repercussions with major allies, she said.

“No question Europe would be furious. This is not a bilateral deal between Tehran and Washington, it’s with five other countries along with the US… So this kind of unilateralism will infuriate every European country,” said Bennis.

Since its implementation, the nuclear deal has brought positive results, she added.

“It has reduced the threat of war … and it improves the lives of Iranians by reducing at least some of the economic sanctions that have crippled so much of the country’s economy.”

Source:Al Jazeera

Enda Kenny will step down as Fine Gael leader after almost 15 years and not lead party into election.

The prime minister of Ireland has said he is stepping down as leader of the Fine Gael party, kicking off a succession contest between two younger ministers.

Enda Kenny – who had already announced he would not lead Fine Gael into the election – said on Wednesday he would remain prime minister during the contest, due to be concluded on June 2, and subsequent talks with government officials backing the government.

“I would like to stress the huge honour and privilege that it has been for me to lead our party for the past 15 years, in opposition and into government on two successive occasions,” Kenny said in a statement.

Kenny, prime minister since 2011 and leader of his party for almost 15 years, is expected to be replaced by either Leo Varadkar, the social protection minister, or Simon Coveney, the housing minister.

Kenny was due to step down at midnight to become acting party leader until a successor is chosen.

Voter backlash

He has overseen Ireland’s turnaround from entering a humiliating three-year state bailout, just months before he came to power, to becoming Europe’s fastest-growing economy for the past three years.

But at a parliamentary election last year, Fine Gael suffered a backlash from voters who felt the recovery was passing them by.

It lost a quarter of its seats, only returning to power as the senior party in a fragile minority government.

Colleagues are counting on a new leader reviving their fortunes after falling marginally behind rivals Fianna Fail in most surveys.

The race is set to be dominated the two declared candidates: Varadkar, 38, and Coveney, 44.

Whoever wins will take over as prime minister, subject to a parliamentary vote, at least until the election.

Fianna Fail agreed last year to abstain in key votes to let the minority government run until late 2018.

Source:Al Jazeera

Kremlin offer comes amid row over US president’s disclosure of ISIL-related information to top Russian diplomats.

Vladimir Putin has said that his government could provide a recording of the exchange between Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, and Donald Trump that has stirred up a political storm in the capital.

The Russian president’s comments on Wednesday were the first since accusations first surfaced that the US president shared secrets while meeting Lavrov at the White House.

The Washington Post newspaper has reported that Trump shared intelligence with Lavrov regarding an ISIL threat related to the use of laptop computers on airplanes.

The controversy comes amid existing investigations into whether Trump’s aides colluded with Russia during the election campaign.

Putin said he was pleased with Lavrov’s visit to the US capital last week but mocked the idea that Trump had shared secrets during the meeting on May 10, calling the allegations “political schizophrenia” and saying people spreading them are either “dumb” or “corrupt”.

“We can see that political schizophrenia is developing in the United States,” Putin said after talks with Paolo Gentiloni, Italian prime minister, in the southern Russian city of Sochi on Wednesday.

“I cannot otherwise explain the accusations of the president that he handed Lavrov some sort of secrets.”

“If the US administration finds it possible, we are ready to provide a recording of the conversation between Lavrov and Trump to the US Congress and Senate.”

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said: “It’s basically power projecting from Putin.

“He is projecting it to Donald Trump, the US Congress and the wider politial establishment there. Vladimir Putin is having a lot of fun at the moment.”

Putin used the Russian word for audio recording at the press conference, but Yuri Ushakov, his foreign policy aide, said that “audio is not made” at meetings like the one at the Oval Office.

“There is a recording kept by a special person present at conversations,” Ushakov clarified to Russian news agencies.

Democrats’ demand

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, “Democrats are calling on Republicans to join them in calling for an independent investigation”, said Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC.

For Democrats but also for some moderate Republicans, there is growing concern that the Trump White House refused to hand over transcripts or tapes, with “three separate congressional investigations ongoing into Russian meddlings or ties between Russian officials and Trump’s staff”, she said.

According to sources cited in the report, that intelligence that Trump reportedly leaked came from a US ally which had not authorised the US to pass it on to Russia.

The New York Times reported later that Israel was the source that shared with US spy agencies the sensitive intelligence materials.

A US administration official confirmed to AFP news agency on condition of anonymity that the original intelligence came from Israel.

However, HR McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, denied that Trump caused any security lapses.

Trump himself insisted he had the “absolute right” to share “facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety” with Russia.

Source:Al Jazeera

Resolution urges inquiry into state of democracy and ‘serious deterioration’ in country’s human rights and democracy.

The European Parliament has voted on a resolution that demands action against Hungary, a member state, amid deep concerns about the deterioration in human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The European Parliament’s resolution, backed by 393 deputies to 221 against, sends a strong signal to Hungary that its actions are being closely monitored.

Wednesday’s condemnation of “serious deterioration” in the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary could start a process that could theoretically lead to Hungary losing its EU voting rights.

“Recent developments in Hungary have led to a serious deterioration in the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights which is testing the EU’s ability to defend its founding values,” the parliament said in a statement.

But the EU’s rule of unanimity means the nationalist-minded government of Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, is unlikely to be stripped of its voting rights as its ally Poland could veto such a move.

Since taking office in 2010, Orban has eliminated checks on his power by taking control of much of Hungary’s news media, curbing the powers of the constitutional court and placing loyalists in top positions at public institutions.

The resolution specifically talks about the right of expression, academic freedom, rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees as well as the right to peaceful gatherings.

It also demands creation of a procedure to examine whether the laws are in “serious breach of EU values”.

‘Shame on leftists’

One key aspect that concerns the EU legislative is the independence of the judiciary and “worrying alleged cases of corruption”, said the statement.

Hungary’s ruling party Fidesz reacted to Wednesday’s vote by saying it was “a shame that Hungarian leftist MPs also voted for the resolution” under alleged orders from US billionaire George Soros.

Soros, the Hungarian born investor and philanthropist, is accused by Orban for alleged destabilisation of the state via NGOs that receive financing from his foundation.

Hungary’s ruling party was the target of heavy criticism in Europe because of a law that threatens to close the Central European University in Budapest that was founded by Soros and is considered one of the country’s leading universities.

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