Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:8
Stephen Lendman: US Unable to Force Iran into Subordination
TEHRAN (FNA)- US columnist Stephen Lendman says even if US talks with Iran take place, nothing positive will be accomplished.

“Neither Iran nor any other nations should subordinate their sovereign rights to US interests,” Lendman told FNA in an exclusive interview.


What follows is FNA's interview with author and writer Stephen Lendman.

Q: French President Emmanuel Macron has recently started mediation efforts between the United States and Iran. Prior to that, efforts to mediate between Iran and the United States had failed. How fruitful do you expect his efforts prove to be?

A: France’s Macron and other NATO member leaders are US imperial allies, partnering with its wars of aggression and other hostile tactics against nonbelligerent states threatening no one.

There’s nothing high-minded about Macron’s approach to Iran. France, Britain, Germany and the EU breached their JCPOA nuclear deal obligations by failing to observe them since Trump unlawfully withdrew from agreement in May 2018.

Affirmed unanimously by Security Council members, it’s binding international law. The US and Europe breached it by noncompliance.

I believe France, Germany, and at least most other European countries want war with Iran avoided, Britain a possible exception under hardline Tory rule, what would devastate the Middle East more than already if occurs.

That’s what Macron’s proposal is all about, clearly shown by inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif to the G7 meeting in France.

At the same time, nothing was accomplished because of US toughness toward Iran. The Trump regime’s hardline agenda toward the country speaks for itself.

Iranian President Rouhani and Zarif are right. If Trump wants talks with Tehran, he must prove it by returning to the JCPOA and dropping unlawful sanctions — what clearly won’t happen.

White House policies toward the Islamic Republic exceed the harshness of their predecessors. Regime change has been US policy since Iran’s 1979 revolution.

Even if US talks with Iran take place, nothing positive will be accomplished. Two North Korea/US summits achieved nothing. 

Unacceptable demands were made. Hollow US promises showed its ruling authorities can never be trusted. Behind the scenes, Pompeo and Bolton sabotaged any possible positive results. They’ll do the same thing with Iran if talks are held.

The notion of the US turning a new leaf for good relations with adversaries never turns out this way. How the US operated earlier is the best predictor of what it’ll do ahead — and there’s nothing good about it.

Q: The US has stressed that any new agreement with Iran should cover Iran's missile program, extension of the JCPOA sunset clauses and Iran's regional power. Do you think that Iran would ever agree to sit to a negotiation covering such issues?

A: Neither Iran nor any other nations should subordinate their sovereign rights to the US interests.

The Islamic Republic’s missile program is legal. It’s solely for defense, the legitimate right of a nonbelligerent nation that never attacked another preemptively, the region’s leading peace and stability proponent.

The notion of an Iranian nuclear threat is debunked by reality. The Islamic Republic’s nuclear program has no military component, never had one, abhors these weapons and wants them eliminated everywhere.

The threat posed by nuclear armed and dangerous Israel goes unmentioned — a nonexistent Iranian one invented by the US and its allies to further their imperial agenda.

Talks between the Trump regime and Iran are highly unlikely. The White House won’t return to the JCPOA or lift unlawfully imposed sanctions.

John Bolton earlier said the JCPOA’s existence and IAEA affirmation of Tehran’s compliance with its principles makes it harder for Iranophobes to sell the notion of an Iranian threat.

Bolton called the JCPOA “a threat to US national security interests.” It’s polar opposite, of course. It’s a threat to Washington’s regime change aim.

The US hasn’t had an enemy since WW II ended so they’re invented — all sovereign independent states it doesn’t control included, Iran a key target because of its vast hydrocarbon reserves.

It’s also Israel’s main regional rival, the Jewish state pushing the US to transform Iran back to vassal state status.

Talks by Iran with the US and/or other countries should only happen if both sides show good faith — what clearly is out of the question with Trump regime hardliners involved.

Q: Why did Trump wants talks with Iran after running his so-called maximum pressure campaign?

A: Trump is a figurehead, a geopolitical know-nothing, Pompeo and Bolton running the regime’s geopolitical agenda.

Nothing DJT says is credible, often saying one thing and doing another. White House “maximum pressure” on Iran is war by other means, tactics entirely illegal, largely unchallenged by the world community through inaction to contest them.

Q: Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA. Then how could one even think of a guaranteed agreement with him or the United States?

A: Agreements with the US are never guaranteed. Time and again, its ruling authorities breach treaties and other international agreements.





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