Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States—plus Germany) together with the European Union.
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On 8 May 2018 Trump announced United States withdrawal from JCPOA.

Obama did it so Trump had to undo it. No matter what it is or whether it is actually good or bad, the Trumpers and Trumpettes demand their ‘god’ smite the works of the evil Kenyan, Muslim demon who was twice democratically elected (both popular vote and electoral college without foreign assistance).

December 27 – US contractor killed in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base. The attack was blamed on the Kataib Hezbollah militia.

December 29 – Kataib Hezbollah camps in Iraq and Syria were hit by US airstrikes in retaliation for the death of the contractor.

December 31 – the US Embassy in Baghdad was attacked by a mob in retaliation for the airstrikes.

January 3 – US assassinates Qasem Soleimani Major General commander of the Quds Force and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi who commanded the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah group, in retaliation for the embassy attack and Republican fear of another ‘Benghazi’.

Trump vows to hit 52 Iranian targets if Iran retaliates

Iran’s foreign minister says U.S. targeting of cultural sites would be ‘a war crime’ and Khamenei’s adviser Iran’s response to US will be military. Iran rolls back nuclear deal commitments.

Iraqi MPs back call to expel US troops which leads to a NATO suspension of Canadian-led Iraq training mission after Soleimani killing. Naturally the Trump administration only informed drunks at Mar-a-Lago and the Russians of their intentions, not Congress and US allies.

Trump threatens Iraq with sanctions if US troops are expelled.

This is to the point that Rand Paul sounds sane – paraphrase: you would have to be brain dead to believe that killing Soleimani would make Americans safer or bring the Iranians to the negotiating table.

Soleimani was not a nice guy. He was the equivalent of the Director of the CIA and Commander of Special Operations for Iran. Nice guy is not what you look for in those jobs. He was, however, an aid to US efforts to combat al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS. He was a Shi’ia warrior who could unite various Shi’ia factions throughout the Middle East and would get along with anyone who was fighting his enemies. Not that anyone in this US government understands but our real problems have been caused by Sunni Muslims, not Shi’ia.

An “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” attitude always results in a lot of blind people feeling for their dentures.

С Рождеством Христовым to my Orthodox friends who are still waiting to see how the calendar reform works out.