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Global Geopolitical Series: EU accuses Trump of not in control of Iran policy

The European Union’s latest accusation coming from European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini’s special advisor Nathalie Tocci has once again shown the great chasm in the foreign policy direction of two trans-Atlantic partners when it comes to Iran.

The European Union and the United States have been poles apart since President Trump moved the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), better known as the Iran nuclear agreement in October 2017. Since then, while the U.S. has re-imposed sanctions against Iran, especially targeting its oil exports, the EU has provided financial aid to Iran and worked on a special purpose vehicle payment system, which would bypass the U.S. sanctions involving USD trade to smoothen EU’s transactions with Iran. The U.S. has sharply criticized the move and threatened to impose sanctions on the EU as well.

In the latest spat, Nathalie Tocci, speaking to ‘Russia Today’ accused that President Donald Trump is not in charge of the United States’ foreign policy with regard to Iran, which contradicts the President’s claim that he remains the ultimate decision maker and is in control of all the foreign policy moves. When asked why she doesn’t trust Trump's claims that he does not want regime change in Iran, Tocci said that President Trump’s National Security advisor John Bolton clearly has a different position and he seems to be the one writing the administration’s policy on Tehran, “Unfortunately at the moment it seems to me that the US’s Iran policy has a very clear author and that author is not the president of the United States.” She cited Mr. Bolton past record as a zealous advocate of regime change in Iran. She went further to suggest that perhaps the President should change his national advisor and if she was Iran, she would probably not comply with the JCPoA as it would need both sides to remain committed to the agreement.

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