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h2ohno on 13 May 2018
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Puppyroach said:
h2ohno said:

This post makes no sense.  Russia is one of the biggest supporters of the 2015 Iran deal and is the closest thing Iran has to an ally that isn't a puppet like Assad or Nasrallah.  Russia is the last country that would engage in a 'shady deal' to kill a deal they pushed for and to reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Trump wants to not only put a stop to Iran's nuclear program for good, he also wants stop Iran's ballistic missile program, it's funding for terrorists like the Houthis and Hezbollah, and get Iran out of Syria.  All of those things become much easier when he can bring the full weight of US sanctions against Iran's economy, and reimposing the sanctions now is easier than reimposing the sanctions when the nuclear deal's restrictions expire in the coming years.  That's what Trump is thinking.

Because the US breaking this deal only benefits Russia in creating closer ties between them and Iran. It also benefits Netanyahu and his position in Israel so both Russia and Israel stands to benefit greatly from this situation.

It in no way benefits Russia.  What Russia fears most right now is getting caught in the middle between Iran and Israel in Syria.  Russia's interest is keeping its naval base in Syria, and while they are allies in keeping Assad in power, Iran's actions beyond that put Russia's position in Syria in jeopardy.And for all it's shielding of Iran over the years, Russia has no more desire to see Iran acquire nuclear weapons than anyone else.

It does benefit Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, and many other nations in the Middle East that are either currently engaged in conflict with Iran or fear Iran's expansionism.  And there is an argument to be made that it benefits the US to apply this pressure on Iran now and not wait until it's built-up in Syria and supplied more billions to the Houthis and Hezbollah.