- By Mardo Soghom
Reuters - TRUMP SPEECH "CREATED OPPORTUNITY TO FIX THIS BAD DEAL" AND CONFRONT OTHER IRAN ACTIONS - NETANYAHU
SAUDI ARABIA WELCOMES NEW U.S. STRATEGY TOWARDS IRAN -AL ARABIYA TV
- By Mardo Soghom
Tony Blinken, one of the architects of the Iran deal is speaking on CNN and criticizing Trump's decisions regarding Iran. He says these steps will isolate the U.S. more that Iran.
- By RFE/RL
Trump, speaking in his long-awaited October 13 Iran policy speech, announced new sanctions against Iran’s hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) under the global terrorism executive order, something many observers had speculated on and which Tehran warned would bring a "proportionate response" from its side.
Although he did not pull out of the nuclear deal, Trump slammed Tehran for what it says are violations of the “spirit” of the accord, in part for its continued testing of ballistic missiles and its support for extremists in the Middle East.
To neutralize Iranian actions in the region, Trump said he was calling on Congress to toughen a separate U.S. law -- known as the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) -- that runs alongside the nuclear deal and was passed by Congress in response to the international nuclear agreement.
U.S. officials said Trump would ask lawmakers to set "firm trigger points" related to its nuclear- and ballistic-missile programs that should Tehran cross would immediately and automatically reimpose sanctions against Iran. Congress will have 60 days to consider any amendments.