Aftandilian in The Arab Weekly on Iran Nuclear Deal
Gregory Aftandilian, Lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent Op-Ed examining United States President Donald Trump’s opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.
Aftandilian’s Op-Ed, entitled “Tough Words and Dangerous Scenarios Between the US and Iran,” was published in The Arab Weekly on September 10, 2017.
From the text of the article:
Despite having certi¬fied twice to the US Congress that Iran is in compliance with the Joint Com-prehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), US President Donald Trump and his UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, seem determined to deny certification in October, even if evidence of Iranian non-compliance is lacking.
Under US law, the president must report to Congress every 90 days on whether Iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear deal.
Trump seemed to put aside his strong opposition to the Iran nuclear deal — a key issue in his campaign for president — and focus instead on Iranian behaviour in the region that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Sunni Arab countries, as well as Israel, had long worried about.
At some point over the summer, however, Trump refocused on opposition to the nuclear deal. In July, he very reluctantly certified to Congress, based on advice from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. Mc¬Master that Iran was in compliance.
Aftandilian spent over 21 years in government service, most recently on Capitol Hill where he was foreign policy adviser to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (2007-2008), professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and foreign policy adviser to Senator Paul Sarbanes (2000-2004), and foreign policy fellow to the late Senator Edward Kennedy (1999).