LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2020) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is playing up to US President Donald Trump's vanity in suggesting to replace the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with a new deal in the latter's name to be used as an asset in the 2020 US presidential election, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane told Sputnik.
On Tuesday, Germany, France and the United Kingdom said they would trigger the JCPOA dispute resolution mechanism, given Iran's decision to scrap remaining nuclear commitments. In an interview with BBC, Johnson praised Trump for being "a great deal maker" and opined that the JCPOA could be replaced with "the Trump deal."
"I think Prime Minister Johnson is playing to President Trump's vanity in concluding a deal in his name - which he could then tout as an achievement during an election year, irrespective of what the substance of such a deal was," Kane said.
The substance, in the meantime, is such that while the original JCPOA may have flaws, what was needed was renegotiation as opposed to Washington's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the treaty in 2018, the former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs said.
"What we have witnessed over the last three years is the dismantling by President Trump of any agreement made by the previous US administration. The JCPOA is not the only 'terrible agreement' that he has criticized, and he is busy dismantling the whole spectrum of the global security architecture without regard to other countries or to allies that have stood for decades with the United States", Kane said.
In her words, Trump "is putting at risk not only the security of the United States but entangling other continents - and particularly Europe - into his scheme of destruction and brinkmanship."
Kane told Sputnik� that a possible return of European sanctions on Iran � itself now likely following the European signatories' decision to trigger the JCPOA's dispute mechanism� � would mean the final demise of the treaty, a development that would conceal Washington's role in the escalation of tensions ensuing after Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement.
On January 5, Iran announced that it would abandon the remaining portion of commitments under the JCPOA, specifically on acceptable levels of uranium enrichment. The nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. In 2018, the US unilaterally withdrew and hit Iran with sanctions amid pleas from other signatories to save the deal.
