The White House appears ready to abandon the landmark Iranian nuclear deal in favor of what experts say could lead to war with Iran. The New York Times reported last week that President Donald Trump has instructed his national security aides to find a rationale for declaring that Iran is violating the terms of the accord. The order came despite the fact the Trump administration reluctantly certified that Iran has complied with its obligations under the agreement earlier this month. Last week, Trump intensified his threats against Iran during a speech in Youngstown, Ohio. Observers say Trump’s actions are laying the groundwork for a disastrous military confrontation with Iran. We speak with Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council.
Qatar has rejected renewed calls by four Arab countries to concede to a list of demands to end the Saudi-led blockade and restore diplomatic relations. The US State department is also calling for Gulf nations to resolve their crisis.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt met on Sunday but offered no new plan to move forward. There were also reports that the countries loosened the air blockade on the country, but Qatar says that has not happened. Al Jazeera's David Chater reports from Doha.
A new Pentagon study says the U.S. may be losing its dominant position in world affairs and that the DoD needs a "wakeup call"--but Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says the report is really about using fear to drum up more money for the military
UK Prime Minister Theresa May's lost yet another of her top Brexit strategists. She was also recently voted Britain's most unpopular leader ever at this stage of a premiership.
Newly declassified State Department documents show oil contracts played a key role in the U.S.-backed 1953 coup in Iran that led to the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. "What the documents show is actually the importance of oil in the coup," says Professor Ervand Abrahamian. "The conventional wisdom is, oh, it was all the Cold War scare, communism. But here you see, actually, very occasionally, when Eisenhower intervenes in a discussion, it’s about question of oil contracts and so on and how nationalization would disrupt the whole international framework and would be a threat to U.S. interests, oil interests, elsewhere."
The blunt lingo of President Trump and his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, can sometimes sound like a cross between “Goodfellas” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
