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| Europe |
| EU tells US to go suck eggs and kisses Iran. |
| 2018-02-26 |
| [ATimes] The European Commission vice-president for energy union, Maros Sefcovic, said during a visit to Azerbaijan last week that the European Union was ready to negotiate Iran’s participation in the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a system of pipelines designed to pump Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to southern Italy via Georgia, Turkey, Greece and Albania. The European bloc is keen to get its hands on Iranian gas and has already held talks with Tehran on the issue. This means it is unlikely that the EU will budge on its opposition to US President Donald Trump’s demands for revising the Iran nuclear deal. Two different visions It has been reported that the US State Department is trying to persuade the EU to collaborate in improving the pact that Iran and six world powers (the United States, China, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom and France) signed in 2015. Aimed at reining in potential military applications of Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic and financial penalties, the accord has been criticized by Trump since his presidential campaign. Trump is seeking an additional agreement to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment permanently – under the current terms, restrictions expire in 2025. The US commander-in-chief also wants a stronger regime of inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the imposition of new sanctions if Tehran develops or tests long-range missiles. He says that without these changes the Islamic Republic will be able to make a nuclear bomb. So while Trump has basically sent an ultimatum to the EU, the State Department has chosen a softer approach, inviting the European grouping and its major countries to consider working together on what Washington views as the Iran nuclear pact’s deficiencies. European energy companies could play a major role in modernizing Iranian gas infrastructure. Possible new US sanctions against Tehran are clearly at odds with this design. In its National Security Strategy, the Trump administration says it will help allies and partners reduce reliance on “those that use energy to coerce.” Paradoxically, Washington’s confrontational position toward Iran risks undermining the EU’s efforts to diversify its energy suppliers and, accordingly, degrade Russia’s ability to use gas exports to influence European geopolitics. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #2 If only Germany had not closed its nuclear plants in the post-Fukushima hysteria phase. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 2018-02-26 05:23 |
| #1 NATO, NATO, NATO, NATO. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-02-26 01:55 |