Trump’s Withdrawal from the Iran Deal: Q&A with Ambassador Tara Sonenshine

Kourosh Ziabari, intpolicydigest.org

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Excerpt:

To diplomats, ambassadors and officials of the Obama administration, President Donald Trump’s foreign policy decisions are incomprehensible, radical and unexpected as they are to many citizens across the world. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal was one of his eyebrow-raising moves.

Tara Sonenshine, who was the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy [JB emphasis] and Public Affairs under President Obama, says the decision by President Trump to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal is a public diplomacy nightmare. ...

I interviewed Tara Sonenshine about Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran deal, its international implications and the future of Iran-U.S. relations. ...

Withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran was against the UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Do you think President Trump violated a UN Security Council Resolution and doesn’t consider himself accountable before the international community and the European Union?

The decision by President Trump to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal is a public diplomacy nightmare. You don’t have to be a nuclear scientist to understand that among the most important currencies in the world is America’s word. As a nation, we say what we mean and we mean what we say. Broken promises have unintended consequences—none of them good. ...