Darrell Castle discusses President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran Deal and whether it was a positive or negative move.

Transcript / Notes

TRUMP AND THE IRAN DEAL

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report.  Today is Friday, May 18, 2018, and on today’s Report I will be discussing President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the "Iran Deal".

During his Presidential campaign, then candidate Trump said he would not have made the Iran Deal and that it was a bad deal, a very bad deal.  So after months of speculation and rumors, President Trump finally pulled the plug on the deal.  He announced the U.S. withdrawal from the deal on May 8, citing concerns that the Joint Comprehensive Plan was not comprehensive enough and did not address Iran’s destabilizing efforts in the Middle East Region.

In his speech announcing withdrawal, the President said that a more constructive deal could have been struck at the time but wasn’t.  “At the heart of the Iran Deal was a giant fiction: that a murderous regime desired only a peaceful nuclear energy program.  Today, we have definitive proof that the Iranian promise was a lie.”

Intelligence information provided by Israel was cited for proof of the lie.  He said that after the deal was struck and the sanctions lifted, Iran used its new money to build its nuclear capable missiles, support terrorism, and cause havoc throughout the Middle East and beyond.  The deal was so poorly negotiated, he said, that Iran would be close to a nuclear breakout even if it fully complied.

The President, in his speech was apparently saying, look, this was a very bad deal for us and I am therefore canceling our participation in it.  The deal would not prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb and threatening American cities.  Interestingly, there was no accusation that Iran was not in compliance with the deal, only that it was bad for America.

The President further announced that he would sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating US sanctions on the Iranian regime.  “We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.”

What does all this mean?  Is the end of the deal a good thing or a bad thing?  I will confess that is a very good question and one in which the answer is not very clear at all.  Some of what the President intends for it to accomplish can be found in the closing paragraphs of his speech.  “It has now been almost 40 years since this dictatorship seized power and took a proud nation hostage.  Most of Iran’s 80 million citizens have sadly never known an Iran that prospered in peace with its neighbors and commanded the admiration of the world.  But the future of Iran belongs to its people.  They are the rightful heirs to a rich culture and an ancient land, and they deserve a nation that does justice to their dreams, honor to their history and glory to God.”

Translation: President Trump just signed the death warrant of the Mullah regime in Iran, or so he believes.  His speech was the final green light to the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow the Mullahs.  Will he succeed?  We’ll see since the jury has just started to deliberate on that one.  He certainly has some positives in his favor as far as believing revolution will happen.

1.  Iran’s economy is on the brink and the new sanctions could push it over the brink.  Some of that depends on the European Union countries and whether they will support the sanctions or not.  The protest movement does seem to be growing, however.

2. He is moving to shore up relations with nations long considered Iranian suppliers and supporters, i.e. North Korea and China.

Would Donald Trump actually deserve the Noble Peace Prize if he negotiated peace on the Korean Peninsula and a reunification of the countries,