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G7 Nations at Odds on Iran? Macron to Lead G7 Discussions with Tehran in Defiance of Washington?
By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, August 27, 2019

Url of this article:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/g7-nations-at-odds-on-iran-macron-to-lead-g7-discussions-with-tehran-in-defiance-of-washington/5687246

The short answer is yes and no. 

G7 nations Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US are united in one respect. They’re profoundly undemocratic while pretending otherwise.

They’re united for privileged interests over beneficial social change. They operate as virtual US colonies most often, even when harming their own interests.

Is Trump isolated on the world stage as the Wall Street Journal suggested? Regardless of how Western leaders feel about him, their nations are very much allied with the US geopolitically.

According to Sputnik News, Trump and his aides were “blindsided” by Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s arrival at the G7. Does it matter given US war on the Islamic Republic by other means? More on this below.

What’s very important is the refusal of Western nations to join a Trump regime anti-Iran Persian Gulf coalition, lessening the possibility of war.

The US is largely a coalition of one so far, Britain, Israel, and Australia offering token support alone.

Russia was absent from G7 talks, excluded from the club since 2014 over nonexistent aggression in Ukraine.

G7 countries support the US transformation of the country from sovereign and independent to US client state bordering Russia — a dagger threatening its heartland, especially if joins NATO.

Economic powerhouse China, the world’s second largest economy, is excluded from G7 participation.

So-called global challenges were discussed on Saturday through Monday in Biarritz, France, Iran one of many topics.

Since Trump’s unlawful abandonment of the JCPOA nuclear based on Big Lies, an international treaty unanimously affirmed by Security Council members, making it binding international law, Europe pretended to go its own way.

By failing to fulfill their treaty obligations, Britain, France, Germany, and the EU breached the JCPOA, going along with the Trump regime’s pullout without admitting it.

French President Macron first said he’d lead G7 discussions on Iran, then about-faced, claiming no mandate from other G7 leaders to pass on joint messages to Tehran, adding:

“We had a discussion (Saturday) on Iran and that enabled us to establish two common lines.”

“No member of the G7 wants Iran to get a nuclear bomb and all the members of the G7 are deeply attached to stability and peace in the region,” adding:

“But there is no formal G7 mandate that is given so there are initiatives that will continue to be taken to reach these two objectives. We agreed on what we wanted to say jointly on Iran.”

Fact: Britain, France and the US have nuclear arsenals.

Fact: The Islamic Republic has none, doesn’t want one, never did, and urges elimination of these destructive weapons.

Fact: Judge them by their actions. G7 countries abhor “stability and peace in the” Middle East and elsewhere while pretending otherwise.

They back endless US wars of aggression in multiple theaters. The Islamic Republic is at peace with other countries.

It never attacked another nation, seeking cooperative relations regionally and globally — its nonbelligerent agenda polar opposite the US and its imperial partners.

Macron added that G7 leaders “will talk on Iran together” and issue a joint statement, the US excluded from it.

Trump said he’ll pursue his own (hostile) agenda on Iran, independently of other G7 nations.

Asked he agreed on a G7 statement Macron intends making making when discussions end, he said he hadn’t discussed this, adding:

“We’ll do our own outreach, but, you know, I can’t stop people from talking. If they want to talk, they can talk.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif arrived at the G7 to discuss the nuclear deal on its sidelines — reportedly on invitation from Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

He intends no meeting with US officials while there. RT reported that Macron’s plan for saving the JCPOA “involves the US lifting its oil embargo on Iran, in exchange for Iran immediately returning to compliance with the 2015 deal, and coming to the negotiating table.”

Despite increasing its uranium enrichment, Iran remains in compliance with the agreement. Trump illegally pulled out and Europe continues to breach its obligations.

There’s virtually no chance that Trump regime hardliners will ease their “maximum pressure” on Iran that’s all about replacing its sovereign independence with pro-Western puppet rule and gaining control over its vast hydrocarbon resources.

Zarif has been conducting full-court press negotiations with other G7 members — except the US because of its illegal JCPOA pullout and weaponized sanctions war.

The JCPOA is dead short of a formal obituary notice. The only chance to save it is if Europe breaks with the Trump regime on this issue by fulfilling its treaty obligations — what it failed to do since May 2018, and shows no signs of changing policy.

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.


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