President Trump’s expected decision to declare the Iran nuclear deal is not in America’s national security interests could jeopardize a peaceful resolution to the North Korea crisis, according to Germany’s top diplomat.
“It is very unlikely that the North Korean dictatorship would sign an international agreement in which it agrees to renounce nuclear weapons when the one agreement like this [with Iran] is being called into question,” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters in Berlin, according to Reuters.
Trump has certified Iran’s compliance with the deal twice since taking office, but he is expected to change course ahead of an October 15 deadline for the decision. Gabriel’s concern about North Korea is common among European diplomats but may matter little to Trump, who has already downplayed the potential for an agreement with the Southeast Asian regime.
The warning is part of a flurry of last-minute diplomacy to change Trump’s mind about the Iran deal, and Gabriel indicated that Germany is willing to take steps to keep the deal in place.
“We are also offering to help influence Iran’s behavior in the region,” Gabriel said. “Germany is ready to do this, but not at the price of sacrificing the nuclear deal.”
That offer might help Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and others on Trump’s national security team who have argued that he should not take a step away from the nuclear deal. Gabriel’s comment may represent a concession to the Trump administration, which has accused European leaders of ignoring Iran’s provocations.
“It is this unwillingness to challenge Iranian behavior, for fear of damaging the nuclear agreement, that gets to the heart of the threat the deal poses to our national security,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in September.
Iranian officials reportedly made a private offer to discuss new restrictions on their ballistic missile program during the UN General Assembly last month. That proposal was repudiated by the regime’s foreign ministry, however, and American experts aligned with the Trump team doubted it’s credibility in any case.
“It’s a transparent ploy to avoid decertification, but shows that pressure has an effect,” an Iran expert close to the White House told the Washington Examiner.
Gabriel’s offer might draw similar skepticism, as U.S. policy-makers believe that Trump will have to step to the brink of re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran in order to induce Europe to make a serious effort to counter Iran.
“Our European allies would rather stick their heads in the sand and make billions of dollars selling equipment — much of it dual-use [civilian and military] — to Iran than deal with the manifest flaws of the [nuclear deal],” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a recent interview.
