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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I am Shannon Maldonado, the founder of the Jaui gift shop, which sells handmade artisanal products. I chose Shopify because when I tested the devices, I found them to be one of the easiest to use devices. It was important for me to consider our development in the future. All tools needed for sales, such as storage design, are handy on the dashboard. Start the free trial at shopify.com website.
Former President Obama is finally surfacing and he is torching Donald Trump's horrible deal with Iran, which is far weaker than Obama's JCPOA, which for the past 15 to 20 years, Donald Trump has been attacking the JCPOA. He's been mocking Obama for it. But at the end of the day, Donald Trump just did a JCPOA
a C-minus version of the JCPOA, where Trump gave Iran more money, Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and Donald Trump weakened the United States standing, not just in the Middle East, but across the entire world as a result of Donald Trump's weakness. Now, let me be very clear. My own view is I'm glad that there's a deal and that the United States is going to hopefully be out of
We can never trust anything that Donald Trump says or does, so we'll see what happens. But we should never have been involved in this unlawful and catastrophic war with Netanyahu in the first place. But for Donald Trump, who said that I'm only going to get total surrender Trump basically doing total surrender. I'm gonna do a deal so much better than Obama's.
You see, when you actually step into the arena and you're confronted by complex issues, it's not always all that easy. It's easy to tear deals apart and to criticize and attack, But actually doing and balancing different issues and different constituencies and stakeholders isn't a very easy thing. So as you all know, I'll show you what Obama said in a moment.
You had Donald Trump who said, we're doing this deal with Iran. We've got the deal. There's going to be allegedly a signing in Geneva with MB Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament leader, who used to be one of the big military leaders there as well. and JD Vance, apparently that's going to happen in Geneva.
Donald Trump is apparently going to be giving Iran billions and billions of dollars, $24 billion in different tranches, and then potentially $300 billion in development monies for the Middle East, up to $300 billion. Also, Donald Trump's like, we're going to get all the nuclear dust and all the material. No,
What Donald Trump actually told the New York Times is that Iran will be permitted to enrich at low levels, not that all the material is going to be taken away. He said, it's at a level that can never be used by the Iran military, Donald Trump said.
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Chapter 2: What is Obama's perspective on Trump's Iran deal?
But yeah, that's what was in the JCPOA. But the JCPOA had a multilateral inspection mechanism. This kind of is like you're going to have to trust Iran to do it. So now let me show you what Obama said. I'll also show you another kind of key moment of Obama versus Donald Trump. And I want to remind you of what Obama said back on May 8th, 2018, when Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA.
And let's bring this all together, shall we? So here's what Donald Trump, well, first I'll show you what former President Obama said, then we'll go into what Trump was saying. Here's what former President Obama told ABC about, you know, how all of this is a reminder that, you know, foreign policy problems can be complex and this idea that we can just bomb our way out of things.
you know, isn't always, you know, the right answer. It may seem enticing to some people, but you have to think through the different levels of consequences. So, here's what Obama said. Let's play it.
It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and had worked for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it. So I'm hopeful that bombing stops and ordinary people are no longer suffering as a consequence of the war.
then in retrospect it's a reminder that on a lot of difficult foreign policy problems the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing
But the fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don't solve 100% of the problem but solve 80, 90% of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war, you'd think we would have learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.
Now, I want to share with you just how prescient Obama was in May of 2018 when Trump pulled out of the JCPOA. But first, I want to also show you how Obama is haunting Donald Trump this week. Here's Obama when he goes to sporting events, how he's greeted. Let's play it. Now contrast that to when Donald Trump went to the only game in the finals where the Knicks lost, how Donald Trump was graded.
So you can see for yourself, then let's, let's dig into the JCPOA, but let's just play this clip so you can see the contrast. Let's play it.
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Chapter 3: How does Trump's deal compare to the JCPOA?
So now I want to share with you what former President Obama said on May 8th, 2018. This was the statement that Obama issued then. And just think about how prescient he was. He knew what was going to happen. Here's what Obama writes when Donald Trump, during Trump's first term, pulled out of the non-nuclear deal with Iran. Obama wrote,
There are few issues more important to the security of the United States than the potential spread of nuclear weapons or the potential for even more destructive war in the Middle East. That's why the United States negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in the first place. The reality is clear. The JCPOA is working.
That is the view shared by European allies, independent experts, and the current U.S. Secretary of Defense. It was Mattis at that time, I believe. The JCPOA is in America's interest. It has significantly rolled back Iran's nuclear program, and the JCPOA is a model for what diplomacy can accomplish.
Its inspections and verification regime is precisely what the United States should be working to put in place with North Korea." Indeed, at a time when we are all rooting for diplomacy with North Korea to succeed, walking away from the JCPOA risks losing a deal that accomplishes with Iran the very outcome that we are pursuing with the North Koreans.
Pause there because you see Donald Trump then allowed Kim Jong-un to get nuclear weapons. People don't talk about that enough. Donald Trump's back and forth love letters with Kim Jong-un ultimately resulted in the
Kim Jong-un getting nuclear weapons, and Trump withdrawing from the JCPOA in 2018 taught North Korea the lesson, we've got to rush to one delay by time, and then let's get a nuclear weapon, and then that's exactly what Kim Jong-un did. That is why today's announcement by Trump is so misguided. Again, this was May 8th, 2018.
Walking away from the JCPOA turns our back on America's closest allies and an agreement that our country's leading diplomats, scientists, and intelligence professionals negotiated. In a democracy, there will always be changes in policies and priorities. from one administration to the next.
But the consistent flouting of agreements that our country is a party to risks eroding America's credibility and puts us at odds with the world's major powers. Debates in our country should be informed by facts, especially debates that have proven to be divisive. So it's important to review several facts about the JCPOA.
First, the JCPOA was not just an agreement between my administration and the Iranian government.
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Chapter 4: What were the consequences of Trump's withdrawal from the JCPOA?
After years of building an international coalition that can impose crippling sanctions on Iran, we reached the JCPOA together with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China, and Iran. It is a multilateral arms control deal, unanimously endorsed by the United Nations Security Council resolution. Second, the JCPOA has worked in rolling back Iran's nuclear program.
For decades, Iran has steadily advanced its nuclear program, approaching the point where they could rapidly produce enough fissile material to build a bomb. The JCPOA put a lid on the breakout capacity. Since the JCPOA was implemented, Iran has destroyed the core of a reactor
that could have produced weapons-grade plutonium, removed two-thirds of its centrifuges and placed them under international monitoring, and eliminated 97% of its stockpile of enriched uranium, the raw materials necessary for a bomb. So, by any measure, the JCPOA has imposed strict limitations on Iran's nuclear program and achieved real results. Third, the JCPOA does not rely on trust.
It is rooted in the most far-reaching inspections and verification regime ever negotiated in an arms control deal. Iran's nuclear facilities are strictly monitored. International monitors also have access to Iran's entire nuclear supply chain so that we can catch them if they cheat. Without the JCPOA, the monitoring and inspection regime would go away. Fourth, Iran is complying with the JCPOA.
That was not simply the view of my administration. The United States intelligence community has continued to find that Iran is meeting its responsibilities under the deal and has reported as much to Congress, so have our closest allies and the international agency responsible for verifying Iranian compliance, the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Fifth, the JCPOA does not expire.
The prohibition on Iran ever obtaining nuclear weapons is permanent. Some of the most important and intrusive inspections codified by the JCPOA are permanent. Even as some of the provisions in the JCPOA do become less strict with time, this won't happen until 10, 15, 20, 25 years into the deal. so there's little reason to put those restrictions at risk today.
Finally, the JCPOA was never intended to solve all our problems with Iran. We were clear-eyed that Iran engages in destabilizing behavior, including support of terrorism and threats towards Israel and its neighbors, but that's precisely why it was so important that we prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Every aspect of Iranian behavior that is troubling is far more dangerous
if their nuclear program is unconstrained. Our ability to confront Iran's destabilizing behavior and to sustain a unity of purpose is strengthened with the JCPOA and weakened without it. Because of these facts, I believe the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake.
Without the JCPOA, the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East. We all know the dangers of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.
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