Not until they get through their primaries.
True… Placate the rabid base before you try to appeal to the general voters.
“In theory”. Iran isn’t pledging to get rid of its nuclear program by the way, but we’ll get back to that in a moment. In fact, nobody is going to cough up the $300 billion that the US has pledged will be delivered to Iran, which leaves the US in the rather awkward position that its left holding the bag and guess what, the American taxpayer is going to be on the hook for coming up with those $300 billion in war reparations that the US has pledged in the MOU, or the US isn’t upholding its obligations of the MOU. Which means Iran is free to ignore the MOU. That TFG signed, in all places, at Versailles. You know, the place that Germany capitulated to end WWI. And had to pay $600ish billion in war reparations.
All of this is moot at the moment since Israel has torpedoed the MOU by continuing the war in Lebanon, but assuming they reign themselves in and the now signed MOU continues forward, we’re on the hook for $300 billion in war reparations to Iran, or Iran can just do whatever the fuck it wants because the US isn’t holding up its end of the MOU. Which honestly it can do anyway under the MOU, because it is conceding nothing under the MOU and is in fact getting everything it wanted and more on top.
The only ‘concessions’ Iran is making is stating that it won’t obtain nuclear weapons - which was already their stated position before this useless war began - and that it won’t charge tolls for transiting the Hormuz Straits for 60 days - which it had never even considered charging before TFG and Netenyahu decided to hand them this gift on a silver platter. There is absolutely nothing in there regarding what Iran is going to do with its enriched uranium. And all of this is without even mentioning the $30 billion in frozen assets that the US has pledged to release under the MOU.
The only thing that is going to prevent the US taxpayer from paying the $300 billion is the fact that there is no fucking way anyone in Congress is going vote for a bill authorizing the expenditure of it, not on the left and not on the right. And democracy hasn’t yet eroded in this country to the point where TFG has the power of the purse strings.
No such pledge. The pledge was to “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan …” We will “undertake” to “develop” a “plan”.
So many weasel words.
And the fact that we made no such pledge.
You might want to check with a lawyer on that one. Undertake has a specific legally binding meaning. It means you are committing yourself to doing something.
Trump has already decided Iran won’t get any money. Forbes via Yahoo! News:
No one disputed that. The point is that what they committed to do is “develop” “with regional allies” “a plan”.
DrDeth did. In the post I quoted.
Yes, to “develop a plan”.
No, I did not. The important word there is “plan”. That is what was promised.
So you didn’t say undertake was a weasel word?
I said there were so many weasel words, yes. The big one is “plan”. IANAL and if you want to say “undertake” has a specific legal meaning- to Donald J trump-then you win.
I dont think any words have a specific legal meaning to him. But your opinion is as valid as mine.
Still, the point is, all that was promised is a PLAN.
Trump doesn’t use weasel words. He just lies.
From the article:
Trump said “we’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!” referring to the 60-day period after the agreement was signed overnight Wednesday to negotiate outstanding issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
Did he even read the document he signed at Versailles? Jesus, this is what you get when you have real estate grifters posing as diplomats conducting negotiations. We’re back to square one again, there’s going to be no “playing out the 60 days”. Even if Netenyahu reels it in, if the US doesn’t unfreeze the $30+ billion in frozen Iranian assets that it has pledged to do in the MOU that TFG signed, Iran is just going to keep the Straits of Hormuz closed until he coughs up the money.
And to add insult to injury Iran is going to be in the right to do so because TFG is explicitly stating that he has no intention of carrying through on the MOU that he agreed to and signed and has been going around saying is a great deal, the best deal, people come up to him crying and say “Sir, this is the best deal ever made in all of history”.
And it might come from taxpayer dollars indirectly, because we live in an oligarchy now. Trump will push some of his oligarchs to throw money at Iran, in exchange they’ll get government contracts or sanctions on their competitors or investigations of their enemies, all courtesy of the US taxpayer.
Honestly, the best outcome is that the MOU has no effect and is just an off-ramp for both sides.
Iran can claim they got promised $300B in reparations and the US can claim they paid $0. Same for regime change, same for nuclear enrichment.
Hopefully the silver lining is that Iran realizes they don’t need an nuclear program because the combined forces ofnthe US and Israel couldn’t win the war.
I don’t see why Iran would claim to have received billions that they haven’t.
Sure, they’d like the U.S. to stop blowing up their people and their desalination plants, but they also know that they’ve got the U.S. by the whoozits in a way only Trump could have brought about.
You’re correct about its legal meaning in our normal legal system. But this is a memorandum of understanding outside the legal system. If a party fails to follow the undertaking, the court has remedies to punish violators. There is no court, no outside or higher power, here to do so. If you make a promise without any fear of consequences for breaking it, weaseling is a perfectly cromulent word to describe what you’re doing, especially if it occurs in the middle of a weasel’s den.
The US won’t agree to war reparations as a matter of policy. Iran knows this so the MOU is the next best thing. They can claim to their people that the US promised $300B in war reparations. By the same token, the US administration can claim they did not agree to war reparations, but instead agreed to investments. Both sides have enough cover to soothe their supporters.
Iran is in a strong bargaining position, but they can’t be happy with the status quo. I’m sure they want to repair their infrastructure and start making money again. I’m sure they want Israel to stop attacking.
They might also believe that US under the Trump administration is unpredictable enough to let the war stretch out – midterms be damned. And they would not be wrong. If Trump believes the midterms won’t benefit him, it will stop being a factor in ending the war.
I chuckled, but yeah, good points.
Anyway it could be the Biggest Beautifullest Plan the world has ever seen, with lovely pictures of gilded ballrooms and bluest reflecting pools. It would meet the undertaking, but still just be that - a plan. It would make a fine shelf-mate for all that Gaza Riviera stuff.